Roar
by Madaboutagirl
Summary: Alternate version of S13, Leah's back and AZ is pissed. Alex is still working at the clinic. Meredith is trying to win back Arizona's friendship after testifying against her at the custody hearing. Minnick is scheming. MerZona for the win! Characters belong to ABC/Disney.
1. Chapter 1

"Dr Robbins?" Leah approaches the surgeon tentatively, after hearing Steph and Jo talking about her at lunch, she figured it would be better to just get this reunion with her ex over and done.

"Dr Murphy, welcome back," Arizona replies barely glancing up from her chart.

"For the record, I am as surprised as you are that I'm back," Leah admits.

"Oh don't bet on that. Considering that I am on the board and I had no idea they were considering bringing you back," Arizona remarks as she finishes what she's doing and places the tablet back into the stand before walking off.

Leah stands still a moment absorbing the verbal blow.

"She's a bit stressed right now," Andrew says walking up to the resident. "Hi, I'm DeLuca, Andrew DeLuca."

Leah looks at him a moment, before asking, "Why are you making excuses for her?"

"Oh, well we live together, so I feel like I should explain..." he begins.

"You. Live with Robbins?" Leah blurts out.

"Not like that, we're roommates. She's not into dudes," he replies quickly.

"Oh, that I know," Leah says before extending her hand, "I'm Leah Murphy."

"Ah," he says now realizing who she is and why Arizona was bitchy.

"You know who I am?" Leah asks curiously.

"You're the reason we have the love contract," he stammers.

"Ha! You're a first year and you already know about the love contract?" Leah jokes. "Obviously nothing around here has changed," she adds walking off.

* * *

"Chief, may I have a word with you?" Arizona asks as she walks up to Bailey and Webber.

Bailey takes one look at the blonde surgeon and she immediately blurts out "He did it." She holds up her hands and backs away. "He is in charge of the resident program and it was his decision to bring Murphy back, don't lay this on me," she adds before walking away.

Arizona huffs and takes a breath as she turns to Webber, but before she can begin, he interrupts her.

"She is a good doctor. And we are down residents right now, in case you hadn't noticed Dr Robbins," Webber replies before she can say another word.

"Oh, I noticed," she snaps angrily. Unless you've forgotten that I am head of two departments, just... just keep her off of my service. I'm fine with DeLuca and Wilson," Arizona says glaring at him before turning to leave.

"Catherine is pushing us to replace Karev," Webber informs her before she walks off. "I just want you to know that it could get worse before it gets better," he adds not wanting her to be blindsided again.

She stops and turns back around, her eyebrow arched. "Karev is an attending, last I knew hiring and firing attendings are decisions for the Board of Directors" Arizona points out angrily. "Not to mention that he is part owner of this hospital, or have you forgotten that Yang left him her shares of the hospital," she asks.

"Shares of the hospital do not guarantee anyone a job here," Catherine says entering the conversation.

"Shares of the hospital don't seem to guarantee us anything any more," Arizona quips before storming off.

* * *

"Is it true? Murphy is back?" Meredith asks when Arizona enters the lounge.

"Yeah, she's back," Arizona groans. "Hey, did you know that Catherine is pushing Bailey to fire Alex?" The blonde asks as Meredith hands her a bottle of water from the fridge.

"I heard," Meredith replies before taking a sip of water. "But it's a board decision," she adds.

"Hmm, is it?" The blonde huffs.

Meredith raises and eyebrow in question, then Arizona continues.

"It's not really fair for him to be fired over this. It didn't even happen on hospital property," she concludes.

"Wow, I didn't think you would defend him ... considering," Meredith remarks in surprise.

"Andrew explained everything to me. It was an unfortunate misunderstanding, but if he can get past it, then I don't see how the hospital can justify firing Alex over it," Arizona exclaims.

"Well, you know that I agree with you," Meredith admits with a smile.

"Hmpf," Arizona scoffs and takes a drink from the water bottle.

Meredith flinches. She knows that Arizona is still upset with her for siding with Callie during their custody dispute.

"That wasn't about you," Meredith reminds her. "That was me standing by one of my oldest friends."

"I thought after everything that we've been through..." Arizona begins, but stops and closes her eyes. "I'm not doing this, not here," she snaps ending the conversation and walking out of the lounge.

Meredith closes her eyes. She hadn't intended to choose sides, when Callie asked her, Meredith assumed that Arizona would ask too. She even told Callie that she wasn't choosing sides. Inwardly she groans as she drops her head into her hands. The friendship with Arizona was new at the time, but they grew close quickly. "I need to fix this," she mutters to herself.

* * *

"She still hates me," Leah says before taking a sip of her drink.

"I'm sure that she was just shocked to see you," Stephanie replies tactfully before ordering another round. She's going to need many drinks to get through this conversation.

"I just thought that we could at least be civil to each other. We are professionals," Leah points out finishing her drink before taking a sip from the next one.

"A lot has happened, I'm sure that seeing you again just caught her off guard," Stephanie counters.

"Is she seeing anyone?" Leah blurts out.

"Murphy, don't be that girl," Stephanie snaps.

"I'm not. I mean, I'm not even single. My, uh, my girlfriend is coming into town this weekend, actually," Leah adds quickly.

"Uh, huh. Sure, she is," Stephanie says not really listening as she watches Jo and DeLuca enter the bar.

"What's with them?" Leah asks.

"Nothing, they're just friends," Stephanie replies, but keeps eyeing them warily.

"Did Karev really beat him up?" Leah questions watching the two sit down at the bar.

"Yeah, but it was just a misunderstanding," Stephanie says standing up. "Uh, excuse me," she adds before walking over to Jo.

"Hey Steph, what's up?" Jo asks as DeLuca hands her a beer.

"I was about to ask you the same question," Stephanie says pointedly nodding at the two of them.

"What? Two co-workers can't grab a beer together?" Jo quips.

"Not you two, come over and sit with me and Murphy," Stephanie demands grabbing her hand and pulling her up to her feet.

"Uh, no thanks. I'm good here," Jo says shaking off Stephanie's hand.

"Well, I'm not, so you two are coming over there," Stephanie snaps glaring at DeLuca who picks up his beer and nudges Jo to follow.

* * *

"What's going on?" Arizona asks as she approaches Meredith in the ER the next morning.

"I wanted to apologize," Meredith replies softly to the blonde.

"You paged me to the ER first thing in the morning to apologize?" Arizona asks annoyed.

"No, I paged you because there's a ten year old in Trauma 3 and you're covering Peds," Meredith reminds her before offering her the chart. "And you didn't answer when I called last night."

Arizona rolls her eyes, but snatches the tablet and quickly begins looking over the chart. A moment later the blond heads into the trauma room with Meredith scrambling after her.

"Page Cardio. We need a cardiac workup," the blonde says as she begins examining the child.

"Maggie is on her way," Meredith adds as Arizona looks over the scans.

Not a minute later Maggie enters the trauma room to examine the patient.

Meredith stands at the door and watches the two surgeons evaluate the patient. Finally she clears her throat and they look towards her.

"Dr Robbins, find me later?" She asks.

Arizona stares at her a moment, before shrugging not really committing to it. But not saying no.

Meredith is disappointed, but she isn't going to press the issue in the middle of a trauma.

"What was that about?" Maggie asks moving to continue her evaluation of the patient.

Arizona groans, "Nothing important," she says tiredly.

Maggie looks from her sister to the blonde and assumes that this is about what Meredith discussed with her last night. Deciding to try to help her sister, Maggie offers, "She was waiting for you to ask her."

The cardiac surgeon offers before turning back to writing orders on the patient's chart before handing it to the nurse.

"Pardon me?" Arizona says watching the nurse leave.

"The custody thing. Meredith expected both of you to ask her to testify. She said yes to Callie, but you didn't ask," Maggie explains. "That's the only reason that she didn't testify for you."

"I didn't think I needed to ask. She is the mother of an adopted child, I thought that she of all people wouldn't take sides," Arizona counters.

"Callie is her friend, of course she agreed to help," Maggie points out matter of factly.

"Yes, but Callie didn't need her, the biological mother always has the advantage," Arizona points out.

"Maybe, but you won and Callie lost, so one could argue that you didn't need her," Maggie counters.

Arizona doesn't respond, instead she pulls up the rails on the gurney and begins pushing it out of the room. Maggie grabs the end of the bed to help and the rest of the trip to the OR is patient focused.

* * *

Arizona was finishing up the first trauma when she was paged to another OR by Chief Bailey. Technically, she reminds herself, she wasn't avoiding Meredith, although now, she is, since she's holed up in her office waiting for Wilson to bring her a smoothie, still thinking about what Maggie said to her earlier instead of charting.

She looks at the clock and groans. Ordinarily at this time of the day, she would be able to remove her prosthetic and spend a few hours charting, but since she's covering Peds for Alex she can't risk it, so instead she massages her upper leg through her scrubs.

"I can't believe that you drink these things," Meredith says from the doorway.

Startled, the blonde spins around to face her. "You develop a taste for them," she quips as Meredith approaches, hands her the smoothie, then sits down in the chair beside the desk.

"If you say so," Meredith replies taking a deep breath as she looks around the office slowly taking it in.

Arizona can tell from the look on the other woman's face, she's thinking about the last time that she was here in this office.

"We haven't exactly talked since before the trial... or, well, since the last time that I was here ...in your office," Meredith says nervously.

Arizona nods slurping on the smoothie as she watches the other woman fidget uncomfortably in the chair.

Then deciding to take the bait, she replies, "Yeah, I sort of remember you kissing me and then bolting from this office like a scared animal," Arizona says sarcastically.

"I'm sorry." Meredith groans. "I panicked," she adds.

"No kidding," Arizona remarks with a wry smile. She leans back in her chair now and considers the admission.

"About that," Arizona punctuates her remark by pointing her smoothie at the other woman. "I know that we had gotten close, but blindsiding me with a kiss because you're curious, was totally out of line. I thought that we were friends."

"We were. Are friends. At least I hope that we still are. And for the record, I didn't do it out of curiosity, " Meredith retorts.

"Wait, what?" Arizona asks pointedly.

"It was late and I had that panic attack because I had to work a trauma in that room," Meredith reminds her.

"I remember, I was there," Arizona recounts softly.

"Something changed for me that day, you were amazing. And then that night we sat here and ate ice cream and talked. I looked over at you and you had this look on your face. It was soft and, and I just wanted to kiss you. And it's not like you didn't kiss me back," Meredith challenges.

"Which was obviously the wrong thing to do. Because then you ran away, avoided me for over a week, then sided with my ex-wife to take my child away from me," Arizona snaps.

"That's not exactly..." Meredith begins to explain, but the blonde cuts her off.

"I did nothing wrong here," Arizona gently scolds her.

"I know," Meredith admits before taking a deep breath and closing her eyes.

"I just wish that you would have told me that you were feeling like that about me," the blonde says her hands gesturing wildly.

"Arizona, I can't explain it. I just... I just suddenly felt closer to you than I ever have, it was confusing," Meredith proclaims dropping her head into her hands.

The blonde sighs. She would definitely agree that it was confusing. She felt it too, but wasn't going to act on it.

"Have you talked to anyone about it? Because Maggie said something to me earlier," Arizona remarks tiredly.

"No! Oh god, what did she say?" Meredith asks genuinely worried; taking a moment to think back over the conversations that she's had with her sister.

"I didn't ask you to take my side because it didn't occur to me that you would take sides, Meredith." Arizona says trying to keep the anger out of her voice.

"I expected you both to ask me. So when Callie asked I said yes, assuming that you would ask and I would testify for both of you, " Meredith replies defiantly.

"Excuse me for thinking that I couldn't ask after you kissed me and bolted from my office," the blonde exclaims heatedly.

"You have every right to be angry about that. I have been waiting for you to be angry about it," Meredith explains.

Arizona tosses the empty cup into her trashcan and turns around to face the other woman, but now Meredith is pulling her phone out of her pocket.

"This is Dr Grey," Meredith says into the phone, but her eyes are on the blonde. "I'll be right there," she says ending the call.

Arizona grimaces, they both need to get back to work. "Go Meredith, it's fine."

"We're not done talking about this," she challenges the blonde as she walks toward the door.

"Fine," Arizona replies over her shoulder.


	2. Chapter 2

After the conversation with Meredith, Arizona spent the rest of the day charting and following up on her surgical patients. Exhausted, she is finally heading out to her car and, for a change, she is thankful that her parking spot is close to the door. Slipping into the driver's seat, she quickly puts the car into gear and backs out of her spot. But as she is navigating through the parking lot, she notices Meredith sitting in her vehicle alone with her head down. Concerned, the blonde pulls up beside her. Immediately realizing that she is crying, Arizona quickly unbuckles her seatbelt and goes over to the passenger side of Meredith's car.

"Meredith? What happened?" Arizona asks climbing up and into the SUV.

Meredith looks over at her. "Nothing, I just... sometimes when I am leaving, I forget. I'm walking out to my car, thinking of everything that I need to do after work and then it just hits me. Derek is gone and everything has changed. I just.. it's fine, I just need a moment, you don't need to stay."

Arizona bites her lip hesitating, but then she takes a breath and rapidly says, "I know what you mean. It's not the same exactly, but I know what it feels like to forget that your life has changed. That everything has changed. I mean, I still head to the daycare to get Sofia before I remember that she's not here," she admits quietly.

Meredith reaches over for the blonde's hand and squeezes it. Arizona pulls her in and wraps her arms around her. And they both take a moment enjoying the comfort of the other.

"I should probably get home. Amelia took the kids home hours ago and she's probably feeding them cereal for dinner," Meredith quips as they release each other from the embrace.

"Oh god, they'll be up all night," Arizona replies with a slight chuckle, watching the other woman wipe the tears from her eyes. "Are you sure that you're okay?"

"Yeah, by the time I get home, I'll have it all pulled together," she says punctuating her words with a small smile.

Arizona frowns slightly. Before this was the type of thing that would compel the two friends to go have a drink after work. But now they are both a little wary of each other it seems. "Okay, but call me later if you need to talk," she says before deciding that leaving is the better option. But she is a bit distracted by her own thoughts, and Meredith's vehicle sits higher than her own, she misjudges the distance down, landing awkwardly, all her weight shifting to her prosthetic, which causes her lose her balance and fall.

"Arizona!" Meredith exclaims, quickly climbing out of the car and darting around to find Arizona sitting on the ground grimacing.

"Are you okay?" She asks worriedly, kneeling down to check the blonde over.

"I'm fine, I just misjudged the distance and some how managed to forget that I'm missing a leg," she mumbles embarrassed as she begins inspecting herself for injuries.

"What can I do to help?" Meredith asks leaning in closer.

"I need to," Arizona begins to reply and then she groans as she realizes that her prosthetic has slipped away from the socket.

Meredith, realizing what has happened, moves in closer, "Let me help," she insists.

Arizona groans, but realizes that she has no other option, so she agrees and directs the other woman to stand in front of her.

Meredith straddles her legs, reaching down so that Arizona can grab her arms and pull her up. Once up on her foot, the blonde leans back against the vehicle.

"Thank you," she says softly.

"Let me look at you, now you didn't hit your head did you?" She asks placing her hands on either side of Arizona's face and looking into her eyes.

"No, I didn't hit my head. Meredith, I'm fine. I assure you, the only thing hurt is my pride," Arizona quips.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry about everything," Meredith says biting her lip anxiously. "Let me take you home, obviously you can't drive now," she points out as she bends over to pick up the prosthetic.

* * *

Meredith pulls up to Arizona's house and notices that the lights are off. "Where's DeLuca?" She asks.

"He's still at the hospital," Arizona replies undoing her seatbelt. "Look, I'll be fine, just hand me my crutches."

The other woman walks around the vehicle and opens the rear door, pulls out the crutches and then helps the blonde out of the car and into the house.

"I'll just get your things," Meredith says before darting back out the door. Reappearing a moment later, with the prosthetic and Arizona's bag.

"Thanks Meredith," she says sincerely as the other woman sets everything down.

"Okay, so what next. Should we get you upstairs? Do you need ice or pain meds? I don't know much about prosthetics, is it normal for this to happen or what?" She questions rapidly.

"It happens, but it's not normal," Arizona replies from where she is sitting. "But you don't have to stay. I'll be fine."

Meredith looks at her skeptically and raises an eyebrow, before pulling her phone out of her jacket pocket.

"Hey, is Maggie there yet?" She asks when Amelia answers.

"She just got here. Where are you?" Amelia asks.

"I got held up, are you two good with putting the kids to bed tonight?" Meredith asks.

She waits as she hears Maggie and Amelia discussing it and then Maggie is on the phone.

"Hey what's going on. I thought you left the hospital, your parking spot was empty," Maggie points out.

"I did. But I'm going to be home late, so can you guys just take care of the kids?" Meredith asks impatiently.

Arizona shakes her head as Meredith ends the call.

"You could have told them," Arizona remarks.

"They don't need to know," she retorts.

"Do you not want them to know that you're here?" Arizona questions anxiously.

"No Arizona, I know that you are a private person and it would just make them hover over you tomorrow. They are both hoverers. They'll suffocate you with all their hovering," Meredith reminds her.

"Oh right," Arizona laughs softly, remembering the time Callie called her asking her to go over to Meredith's house after her accident. Because the woman had made them all leave the night before and she was home alone with three kids and she wouldn't let any of them help. It was the beginning of their friendship.

* * *

"Arizona, I am a doctor. Just let me look at it," Meredith argues. It's taken her half an hour to get Arizona to agree to let her help her up the stairs and now she's refusing any additional help.

The blonde groans. She hates feeling helpless, somehow it's easier to let DeLuca or Alex help her and on the rare occasion her ex-wife. She looks up again to see Meredith staring at her, arms crossed, not taking no for an answer.

"Fine," the blonde huffs.

"What do I need to do?" Meredith asks.

"Third door of my dresser, would you grab a pair of shorts for me?"

Meredith opens the drawer and pulls out the first pair she finds and offers them to the blonde, who snatches them from her hand. "Okay, just give me a minute to change and maybe you could get the cold pack from the freezer," she suggests.

"Okay, but you're sure that you don't need help changing?" Meredith questions.

Arizona glares at her a moment before dismissing her with a shooing motion.

A few minutes later, Meredith knocks lightly on the door, "You decent?" She jokes.

"Yes, but I forgot that I need my bag..." Arizona says as the door begins to open.

"This bag?" Meredith asks holding it out to her.

"Yes, thank you," she replies, not really looking up, because although it's been a few years, she's still not comfortable with people seeing her like this.

Meredith sees the angry redness where the socket used to be and she immediately drops to her knees to examine it.

"It looks worse than it is," Arizona says trying to downplay it. But she takes the offered ice pack and gently applies it to the stump grimacing when the cold hits her skin.

Meredith darts into the ensuite bath and returns with a hand towel and wordlessly lifts the cold pack, wraps it in the towel and carefully replaces it.

"Also, you have no food in your house," Meredith spouts off, earning her another glare from the blonde, "I looked because I was thinking that I could make us something for dinner," she explains.

"Without Sofia around to cook for, I just usually grab take out," Arizona confesses.

"Okay, so what do you want? I'll go get something," Meredith suggests.

Arizona squints at her a moment but before she can respond, Meredith continues.

"Quit being stubborn. I'm here and I want to help, let me," she says sitting down on the bed beside her. "It's not like you didn't do this for me when I was recovering," Meredith points out.

Arizona smiles slightly. It's true and she's positive that she pretty much said those words at that time too.

* * *

The front door shutting hard startles her. It's not like her sisters to be so loud this late, Meredith thinks as she listens a moment trying to figure out who it is. Opening her eyes, it hits her, she isn't at home. Remembering where she is, she looks over to check on Arizona, who is still sleeping.

Wondering if she should leave or stay, Meredith sighs and rolls over to stare at the blonde a moment. They've done this before, a few times after the attack, slept together in the same bed. But then that's always been Meredith's thing, making her friends sleep with her so she isn't alone.

"Hmm, you're still here. Did we fall asleep?" The blonde mumbles as she rolls over to face her, eyes still closed.

Meredith startles slightly, then recovers and whispers, "We must have. I think that DeLuca just got home," she admits softly.

Arizona smiles sleepily and Meredith realizes that she's not really awake, which makes sense since it's only been a few hours since she took the pain meds.

Lying awake, Meredith wonders what time it is and if she should head home or just stay. Before she can decide, the tv comes on downstairs and there's no way she's going downstairs and having an awkward conversation with an intern. But if she's staying she needs to get out of her bra and slacks. Sitting up she carefully swings her legs off the bed, which must have disturbed the blonde because she mumbles again and reaches out for her.

"I'm not leaving," Meredith says softly, giving her hand a light squeeze before slipping off the bed. She walks over to the dresser and removes her slacks then pulls on a pair of shorts from the drawer. Opening another drawer, she finds a t-shirt and slips it on. Grabbing her phone she then heads into the bathroom to send Maggie a text, letting her know that she won't be home.

When she comes back to the bed several minutes later, Arizona has migrated to the middle. Meredith shakes her head and smiles, before slipping in on the other side and nudging the blonde over.

"Sorry," she mumbles, eager to get back under the covers and into the warm bed. The best part of not sleeping alone, is the warmth of the other person, she thinks as she snuggles back in. Arizona must feel the same, because as soon as Meredith is comfortable, the blonde readjusts her position and throws an arm over her. Meredith feels her heart rate soar at the contact and for a moment she's convinced that her heart pounding out of her chest will wake the blonde up. But her breathing stays even and Meredith focuses on it until her heart rate calms down. This is definitely not anything like sleeping with Cristina or Alex, she thinks as she drifts back off.

* * *

The room is bright, when Arizona wakes up. She groans, because typically it means that she's overslept. Opening her eyes a little winder, she wonders why she is sleeping on this side of the bed. Fully awake now, the night before comes back to her. She remembers falling and Meredith bringing her home, convincing her to take pain meds after they ate dinner. She reaches for her phone to check the time and finds that it's not as late as she thought, it's just a rare sunny morning in Seattle. Wondering where the other woman is, the blonde looks around the room for any signs of her. Seeing none, she sighs and scoots over to her side of the bed where she left her crutches.

After a shower, Arizona is pleased that her socket slips right on and the prosthetic wasn't damaged in her mishap the night before. Finally able to ambulate, she makes her way downstairs, noting that she's still a little sore, but not bad considering.

Her phone buzzes while she is making coffee, she glances at it and it's a message from Meredith, asking her to call when she's awake.

Arizona reaches over and hits call on the phone and picks it up.

"You're already awake?" Meredith asks surprised.

"Yeah, I guess I don't have any tolerance for those pain pills any more, they knocked me out," the blonde admits.

"Well, it might have also been the day, because I fell asleep too," Meredith confesses.

"Wait, did you stay the whole night?" Arizona asks confused.

"Yeah, I just left your place like a little over an hour ago," the dark blonde admits with a yawn. "How are you feeling this morning?" Meredith asks genuinely concerned.

"It's fine. I'm back on two legs, I'll just need to take it a little easier today. Hopefully, I won't end up standing in the OR all day," Arizona replies.

"Great, so should I come pick you up? Your car is still at the hospital," she reminds her.

"Oh no, I'll just call an Uber," Arizona replies easily.

"I don't mind. I don't have class today and Webber is covering my rounds. I texted Wilson and told her to cover yours and that you'd be in late," Meredith adds.

"You did?" Arizona questions and seems a bit annoyed.

"Sorry, I just didn't want people to think anything was wrong," Meredith says apologizing.

"Okay, well thanks," Arizona mutters, but Meredith can tell that she's not happy with her.

"Arizona, we're friends. It's not a big deal. I've done it for Alex and Callie, even for Owen a few times," Meredith points out.

The blonde pours herself a cup of coffee and for a moment Meredith thinks they've been disconnected, but then she hears the refrigerator open and close.

"I'm leaving now, will you be ready in 20 minutes?" Meredith prompts.

Taking her first sip of coffee, Arizona relents. "Okay," she says with a smile. Ending the call she takes another big sip of coffee and has to admit that it is nice to have someone taking care of her.


	3. Chapter 3

"So you're just not going to tell us where you were last night," Amelia says as she sits down at the lunch table with Maggie and Meredith.

"I appreciate your help with the kids, but that doesn't mean I have to tell you everything," Meredith argues.

"You could have at least told us that you were seeing someone," Amelia retorts.

"She's not," Maggie jumps in, but then unsure she looks over at her sister, "Wait, are you?" She blurts out.

"If I were, it still wouldn't be any of your business," Meredith protests.

"Oh, yeah. She is definitely seeing someone," Amelia quips knowing it will piss off her former sister-in-law.

Meredith groans at them both as she tries not to watch Arizona making her way through the cafeteria.

"Hey Robbins!" Amelia calls out flagging down the Fetal Surgeon. "Join us," she offers.

"I would love to, but I have a consult in half an hour, rain check?" She asks smiling brightly at the three surgeons.

Amelia and Maggie return the smile and nod, but Meredith barely looks up and then back to her salad.

"I can't believe that she is still single, especially now that Callie's left," Amelia says watching the blonde walk away.

"You have a girlcrush on Robbins?" Meredith asks amused and slightly curious.

"Who doesn't?" Maggie gushes, earning her a shocked glance from her sister and an amused one from Amelia.

"Ha! All of us have a girlcrush on Robbins," Amelia replies laughing.

"Speak for yourselves. I don't have girl crushes," Meredith retorts.

"Then what do you call it, a friend crush?" Maggie questions.

Meredith groans again before picking up her phone and her tray. "I have a surgery to prep for," she says taking her stuff and leaving the table.

The brunette laughs watching Meredith flee from the conversation, then she turns to Maggie. "I didn't know that you had girl crushes, so tell me have you ever kissed a woman?" Amelia asks scooting over into Meredith's seat to be closer so they can talk quietly.

"H-having a girlcrush and kissing one are two different things," Maggie stammers nervously.

"O-ooh, you have though. Because you didn't deny it," Amelia challenges, her eyes twinkling with mischief.

"Maybe I have, but what about you? Have you kissed a girl?" Maggie pushes back, trying to match Amelia's teasing.

"I did. I did kiss a girl and I liked it," Amelia says laughing hard.

"Me too," Maggie confesses nervously laughing along with her.

* * *

Meredith is heading into the scrub room when she spots Arizona standing before the surgical board. Noticing that the surgeon has three procedures on the board, she stops. "How are you feeling?" She asks.

"Fine, it's just that I had two surgeries scheduled and now I have an emergency peds case that Bailey just added in, so I'm trying to prioritize the three of them," Arizona says with a frown.

"What's the peds case? Is it something that I could handle for you?" Meredith asks.

Arizona stops frowning at the board and turns to look at her, "You have a procedure in fifteen minutes," she reminds her.

"Yes, but it's not emergent, I could postpone it and take the peds case for you," she points out.

"It's a splenectomy, but it could get complicated, the patient was injured in a fall this morning and is being transferred in, I haven't even examined him yet," the blonde admits.

"I'm sure that I can handle it and if I need assistance, I'll page Owen," Meredith says confidently.

"If you're sure, that would be amazing. I really don't want to delay this fetal surgery again, it's getting to a critical point," the blonde replies.

"Then it's settled," Meredith says wiping the board and writing her name in as surgeon. "I'll notify the Chief and have it reassigned to me," she adds giving the blonde's arm a light squeeze.

* * *

Several hours later and Arizona is walking out of the recovery room after checking on both of her patients when she spots Meredith heading into the attendings lounge.

"Hey, how did it go?" She asks following her into the room.

"The splenectomy went fine, but his liver was damaged pretty badly. I'm hoping that it will look better in the morning, but he could lose it," Meredith replies frowning. "How did yours go?"

"Great, thanks to you," Arizona says brightly.

"I'm sure that it was all you," Meredith teases.

"Hey, since it looks like we are both working late tonight, do you want to go grab some dinner? I think I owe you for last night," Arizona suggests lightly.

"Only if we can leave the hospital, I hate eating two meals here," Meredith jokes.

"Joe's or the Thai place down the street?" Arizona asks.

"Thai place," Meredith answers quickly earning a smile from the blonde.

* * *

"I guess that we should get back and let our residents go home," Meredith sighs watching Arizona handing her card to the server.

"Yes, and remember that I'm buying next time," Meredith reminds the blonde, which earns her a flash of those dimples.

"Who says that there will be a next time?" The blonde teases.

"There will be," Meredith replies confidently, her blue eyes twinkling happily.

Arizona chuckles at that before asking, "How late are you staying tonight?"

"Just until midnight, I have Warren coming back in to do the overnight," Meredith admits with a yawn. "How about you?"

"I could have Wilson come back in, but I need her fresh tomorrow to help cover peds, so I think that I'm just going to stay," Arizona answers.

"You're too nice to your residents, you know that right?" Meredith teases.

"Hey, Wilson is doing an amazing job, she's covering two specialities," Arizona points out. "In fact, I'm thinking of asking her to apply for the Fetal Medicine fellowship."

"Wilson? You really think she's cut out for Fetal Medicine?" Meredith questions.

"I do and I am an excellent judge of residents," Arizona counters.

"True, you turned Alex into a Pediatric Surgeon and none of us could have predicted that," Meredith replies as the server returns with the tab and Arizona's card.

* * *

Returning to the hospital, they head upstairs to check on their patients. Arizona accompanies Meredith to the peds floor, since she's the Chief of Peds and she's staying the night, she wants to make sure that she's up to speed on the patient. Afterward, Meredith heads down to check on her other patients leaving Arizona to do the same.

Arizona is sitting on her small sofa still charting a few hours later when there's a soft knock at her door.

"Come in," she calls out.

"Hey, shouldn't you be sleeping now," Meredith chides her lightly as she enters the office.

"Almost done, just finishing up with the surgical plans for tomorrow. Wilson had some questions and they were good ones, so I modified the plans," Arizona admits before yawning and making room for the other woman to sit beside her.

Meredith lays her lab coat over the chair before she moves to sit down.

"I thought that you would be heading home by now," Arizona says curiously.

Meredith pauses slightly and Arizona looks over at her questioningly.

"I-I wanted to talk," Meredith suggests anxiously.

"Okay, about what?" Arizona asks closing her laptop and setting it on the table beside her.

"About us, the kiss and last night," Meredith confesses rapidly.

"Last night?" Arizona questions because she doesn't remember much after they ate and she took the pain pill.

"Yeah, when we were sleeping, you sort of rolled over and cuddled up to me and I..." Meredith gulps now, trying to think of how to describe it.

"Oh," Arizona says unsure of what to do or say. "Well, I'm sorry."

"No, I-I didn't mind and it's not your fault," Meredith replies hesitantly.

Arizona closes her eyes for a moment and takes a deep breath.

Fearing the worst response, Meredith begins to worry and stands up abruptly. "Uh Arizona," she says anxiously, "I'm going to... I should probably go," she stammers quickly before heading towards the door.

The blonde's eye shoot open and she calls out. "Meredith, how can we talk about this, if you leave?"

"I-I wasn't sure that you wanted to talk about it," Meredith replies turning around with one hand on the door.

"Look, I just, sometimes, I just need a moment to think. And this is one of those times," Arizona exclaims softly punctuating her words with a small smile.

"Oh," Meredith says relaxing a little and coming back over to the couch to sit down. Taking a few breaths to calm herself down.

"I guess that I need to understand what you're feeling, because, and don't take this the wrong way, straight women do this all the time to lesbians. They have these crushes but they're not really crushes, they're just curious," Arizona explains carefully turning to face her.

"I'm not straight," Meredith scoffs angrily before turning to face the blonde. "And this isn't a crush," she adds leaning in.

"Y-you're not?" Arizona stammers nervously licking her lips.

"No," Meredith says, "And I don't think that I am alone in this," she adds, biting her lip anxiously.

Arizona stares at her for a solid minute trying to process what is happening, just as she's about to respond, their phones come to life.

Meredith jumps up and grabs her lab coat and pulls her phone out of the pocket. "This is Dr Grey," she says reaching over and grabbing Arizona's phone off her desk and handing it to her.

"Dr Robbins," she says answering her own phone.

Ending the call, Meredith turns around to see the blonde looking over the labs on her laptop.

"How bad are they?" She asks leaning in to look at the reports.

"Not good, his liver functions are deteriorating, if we can't stabilize them, he is going to lose that liver and possibly go into multiple organ failure," Arizona points out.

* * *

"Dr Grey, respectfully, I can handle this. You scheduled me in tonight because you know that," Warren argues carefully, frustrated that he came in for this exact reason and now Grey isn't going to leave, so he could still be home in bed with his wife, but he can't say that to her.

"Dr Grey, may I have a word with you?" Arizona says motioning for Warren to leave the room.

"Arizona, I'm here and he's my patient," Meredith states strongly.

"Yes, but you have a full board tomorrow and you need to get some sleep tonight. Now you scheduled Dr Warren to cover your patients tonight, so he and I will handle this; there is no reason for all of us to monitor this one case." Arizona counters sweetly but firmly.

"I'm not leaving the hospital," Meredith replies crossing her arms.

"Fine, but get some sleep because no one is going to page you tonight," Arizona says mimicking her by crossing her own arms.

"Fine," Meredith says with an annoyed and slightly angry, even though she knows that the blonde is right.

Dr Warren watches her leave before heading back into talk to Robbins. "Wow," he mutters, surprised that Grey gave up that easily.

"Let's go over these labs, Dr Warren. I need to make sure that you know what to watch for," Arizona says setting the tablet on the table between them.

* * *

An hour later and she has rounded on all of her patients again, instructing the staff to page her and letting them know that she'll be in her office resting for a few hours.

Yawning, she opens the door and then jumps when she realizes that Meredith is sleeping on her office couch.

Arizona closes the office door carefully, quietly making her way over to her ensuite slipping in quietly she closes the door. As she brushes her teeth, she tries not to think about her earlier conversation with Meredith. It will only keep her awake and she desperately needs sleep right now. Slipping her scrub top off and replacing it with a long sleeve t-shirt, before slipping off the bottoms and removing her prosthetic. She hates sleeping with the socket on, but it's necessary since she could get paged at any moment and she can't perform surgery on crutches. Laying down, she closes her eyes and focuses on her breathing until she finally drifts off.

* * *

A phone ringing in the distance wakes up the surgeon on the couch. She reaches for her phone to check it. It's 4:45 am and she has no messages. She hears a soft voice talking from somewhere nearby, she sits up and immediately regrets sleeping on this couch as she's hit with a small back spasm. Closing her eyes, she begins to stretch her arms and loll her neck to get the kinks out, when she realizes that she can hear water running in the ensuite.

A few minutes later and Arizona emerges from the ensuite, freshly scrubbed face, still adjusting her ponytail.

"Hey," she says realizing that Meredith is awake. "Sorry, I forgot to put my phone on vibrate, I'm not used to anyone sleeping out here."

"I bet, this couch is not comfortable," Meredith replies.

"You should have gone to an on-call room," Arizona points out.

"All the on-call rooms on this floor have parents in them," Meredith counters.

"Yeah, well you didn't have to stay on this floor and don't you have a couch in your office?" Arizona reminds her.

"It's as bad as this one," Meredith confesses. "I should have negotiated for a private suite like yours," she laments as she stands up and reaches for her lab coat. "Was that about James?" She asks nodding towards the phone in the blonde's hand.

"No, it's another case. James is stable, his labs haven't changed," she informs her.

"Oh," Meredith says disappointed. "I could go get coffee for us," she adds.

"Look, I know that we still need to talk, but not here. Not at the hospital, maybe we can figure out something later this week," Arizona suggests as she switches out the battery in her phone with the spare from the charger on her desk. "I need to go," she adds apologetically.


	4. Chapter 4

Arizona is just leaving the OR when she runs into Maggie Pierce.

"Dr Robbins, I was just looking for you," Maggie says with a smile.

"Can you walk with me? I have a patient in pre-op that I need to check on," Arizona says untying her mask and gown and stuffing them into the bin.

"Oh, yes but it's about a consult so maybe I should wait and we can talk later," Maggie suggests.

"Just send me the case notes and I'll review them this afternoon," Arizona offers, sounding tired and a little distracted. She stops just outside the door before taking a deep breath and barreling through it.

Maggie pauses outside the door and listens as the surgeon transforms from exhausted to exhilarated and positive. She smiles appreciatively knowing what it takes to do that for patients.

Continuing down the hall she runs into her sister.

"Hey, Meredith I can't take the kids tonight, I have a new peds case," Maggie informs her.

"Okay, well that's fine. I was planning to get off on time tonight. Thanks for your help this week though," Meredith replies.

"Happy to be part of the village," Maggie quips before giving her a quick hug and heading back to her office.

* * *

Arizona groans, she was trying to focus on the consult from Pierce, but Alex has been texting her for the last half hour bitching about the clinic supervisor. She stopped responding ten minutes ago after DeLuca dropped off her salad, but now her phone is buzzing again. Setting her fork down, she touches the phone to check to read the message and is surprised to see that it is a message from Callie, opening it, she is greeted by a photo of her daughter. Smiling brightly, she saves the photo as her new screensaver, contemplating calling to thank her ex, but is interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Come in," she calls over her shoulder.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but have you had a chance to review that case yet?" Maggie asks stepping into the office.

"I'm reading it right now," Arizona replies motioning for the other surgeon to sit down.

"Is that lunch or dinner?" Maggie teases noting that it's almost 4 pm.

"Time will tell," Arizona quips back with a soft smile and a flash of dimples. Then turning back to the case file, she remarks, "So the mother has Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy."

"Yes, and since HCM is genetic, I wanted you to evaluate the fetus for any signs of it," Maggie explains.

"Hmm, did she do any genetic testing before the pregnancy?" Arizona questions.

"No, and she wasn't aware of the HCM prior to her pregnancy. And before you ask, this is her first child, so no siblings to test," Maggie answers.

"Well, you've certainly done your research," Arizona murmurs as she continues to review the case. "Let's schedule a 3D ultrasound for the baby as soon as possible."

"Finish eating and I'll get everything set up, is it okay if I sit in on the ultrasound?" Maggie asks.

"Of course, you should. If we are lucky, we'll get to see what HCM looks like as it's forming in-vitro," Arizona points out.

"Uh, have you seen it before?" Maggie inquires curiously.

"Not yet," Arizona says taking another bite of her salad.

Maggie marvels at the calm fetal specialist. "Sorry, it's just that you seem really calm about this. I would be researching like crazy if I was faced with a diagnosis that I wasn't familiar with," she says uncritically.

"Dr Pierce, fetal medicine is relatively new. But I learned from the best and just because I haven't seen it before, doesn't mean I can't fix it," the blonde informs her confidently.

"I get that, but you, you're new to fetal medicine how can you be so confident?" Maggie blurts out.

"Dr Pierce, I know that we haven't really worked together before, but you need to trust that I know what I'm doing," Arizona pushes back, just a bit annoyed. "I didn't get triple board certified by accident, I've worked very hard to get where I am."

"Oh no, Dr Robbins. I am not questioning your skill or training," Maggie says hoping to lighten things up. "It's impressive. You are impressive," she adds seriously before standing up to leave.

Arizona frowns, she may have overreacted and now she wonders if she should apologize.

Worried about getting off on the wrong foot, "I'll just go set up and I'll meet you in the patient's room," Maggie mutters before leaving quickly.

* * *

The elevator opens and Amelia steps in and eyes Maggie curiously.

"How's your day going?" She asks before punching the button for her floor.

"It's good, long. But good. I have a consult with Robbins, my patient has a congenital heart defect and she's in her second trimester," Maggie explains.

"Oh, so you might be spending some quality time with Dr McDimples," Amelia teases.

"Dr McDimples? I've not heard anyone call her that," Maggie retorts uncomfortable.

"Oh, well ask Meredith about it some time, it was her intern class that named the attending, Derek was Dr McDreamy, Mark Sloan was Dr McSteamy and I'm not sure when or why, but Robbins earned Dr McDimples at some point," Amelia replies her blue eyes twinkling at the memory.

"Well she does have amazing dimples, so I can understand it," Maggie says reluctantly.

"Oh this is going to be fun," Amelia quips rubbing her hands together as the elevator doors open. "Have a good night and don't do anything I wouldn't do," she adds as the doors close.

Rolling her eyes, Maggie blushes slightly, thankful that the doors are closing and no one heard that remark.

* * *

"Michelle and Jon, this is Dr Robbins. She is the fetal medicine specialist here at Sloan-Grey," Maggie says introducing the blonde surgeon.

Arizona steps forward and shakes both of their hands. "I'm sure that Dr Pierce has explained why I am here, but I'd just like to remind you HCM is typically diagnosed by genetic testing, it's not real common to diagnose it in vitro, but it can be done. Since you are at 20 weeks and the heart is the first organ to develop, we may be able to determine if the fetus has HCM today," Arizona explains carefully and confidently. "Now we're going to do a 3D ultrasound to get a good look, if you don't want to know the gender of the baby, you might want to turn away," she adds with a grin that causes both parents to exchange nervous looks.

"We've agreed to wait until birth," Jon says nervously, looking over at Michelle for confirmation.

"Okay, then I'll just turn the screen away from you both," Arizona replies flashing another smile at them.

Maggie stands right behind her, wanting to see everything and the blonde gives her a curious look before turning the machine on and preparing to begin.

The blonde surgeon chatters along mentioning key development benchmarks as she sees them. Pausing carefully to record screenshots, but never long enough to alarm the two nervous parents. After a few moment, she puts the wand down and steps up to face them both.

"The next part of the exam is going to be me closely examining your baby. I need to focus, so I won't talk as much, but that doesn't mean that anything is wrong, it just means that I am gathering all the information that I can to make an accurate diagnosis. Just do me a favor and relax as much as you can, okay?" Arizona states confidently, waiting for each to acknowledge her question with a nod.

"Um, if you have any questions for me, I'd be happy to answer them while Dr Robbins is finishing up," Maggie says moving around to stand in front of the screen.

"You mentioned that Michelle might need surgery to repair her heart, is that the same procedure that the baby would need? Would you do them at the same time?" Jon asks.

"Right now, Michelle doesn't need surgery and we don't know if the baby has inherited the defect, so let's not get ahead of ourselves," Maggie replies stealing a glance at the blonde for reassurance.

"In vitro cardiac thoracic surgery occurs infrequently, most cases can wait until the baby is born to correct the defect," Arizona pipes up, still staring intently at the screen.

"But it's possible or you wouldn't be here," Michelle points out.

"It is possible, but not likely," Arizona counters. "And not all surgical consults result in surgery," she adds looking up from the screen to reassure the couple.

"How often do you consult and not operate?" Jon asks suddenly.

Arizona looks down, she was hoping that they wouldn't ask that question. "Slightly less than 60 percent of my cases are surgical," she replies setting the wand down.

"Six out of ten end up having surgery," Michelle repeats.

"Yes, but that isn't reflective of your case, many of those cases are not genetic defects," she adds to reassure them. "Now, I need to go review my findings and I need the both of you to promise me that you're not going to get worked up over this. I am one of the best Fetal surgeons in the country and I learned fetal medicine from the best, so you're in good hands here at Sloan-Grey," Arizona says confidently as the tech disconnects the machine and wheels it away.

"We'll be back in an hour or so," Maggie adds. "I'll send the nurse in to check on you in twenty minutes," she says before following the blonde out of the room.

"That was so intense," Maggie exclaims falling back against the wall, before seeing the worried look on the blonde's face.

"It's only going to get worse," Arizona replies with a sigh, before heading into the consult room to review the scans.

Maggie follows her inside. "You were so confident in there. You said that she wouldn't need surgery," she questions.

"Not exactly, I said that not all surgical consults result in surgery," Arizona points out.

"Back up. What did you find?" Maggie asks leaning against the desk and watching the blonde put the scan up on the large screen.

Grabbing the pointer, Arizona traces the 3D image of the heart, "This is the right side of the heart."

"It looks normal," Maggie notes.

"This is the left side," Arizona says putting up another scan beside the first one.

"Oh god," Maggie gasps. "It's enlarged," she exclaims.

"Yes, because it's been overcompensating for the smaller right side," Arizona informs her.

"Wait, the right side isn't underdeveloped," Maggie argues.

"It's fully developed but it's undersized," Arizona corrects her.

"I don't understand, she's at twenty weeks, according to the development chart..." Maggie begins to counter argue.

"She's not at twenty weeks, she's at twenty-four weeks," Arizona interrupts. "So now you see the problem?"

The Cardio Chief pauses and continues to focus on the scans. She has a few ideas, but fetal cardiology isn't her specialty. "Okay I see it, but what is it, it doesn't look like HCM," Maggie says finally.

"It's not HCM, which is good. And right now since the both sides of the heart share the ductus arteriosus, it is possible that in a few weeks, this will even out and by the time the baby is born, it won't be an issue," Arizona explains.

"Oh my god, you had me so worried," Maggie says relieved, smiling she turns to look at the blonde who is still frowning. "Wait, you don't think that's what is going to happen do you?" She asks.

"No, I don't. I think that this is going to get worse and the ductus arteriosus is going to rupture," Arizona replies dropping her head into her hands.

"What are the options?" Maggie asks pulling out the chair beside the blonde and sitting down.

"I'm not sure. I need to run a few more tests," she says softly. "Would you mind just giving me a few minutes?"

"Uh sure, I can do that. Do you want me to talk to them?" Maggie asks, although she really isn't sure what to say.

"I'll talk to them, I just can't do it right now. I need to go over this again, maybe I'm wrong," the blonde says hopefully.

"I have a feeling that you are wrong about as often as I am," Maggie says dropping a hand on her shoulder before turning to leave.

* * *

"Dr Pierce, I just checked on Mr and Mrs Elliot, why didn't you tell me about the consult?" Edwards asks, she hasn't been the lead cardio resident for long, but still she should be kept apprised of all consults.

"How did it go with Riggs today?" Maggie asks instead of answering her question.

"It went fine. The transplant team is just finishing up, I appreciate getting to assist on that, but I did a Maternal medicine rotation, I'd like to follow this case," Edwards presses.

"Okay, well if you want to follow the case, then we'll be meeting with the parents to review Dr Robbins findings, I'll page you," Maggie says pulling her own phone out to read the incoming message.

"Where's Robbins now? Can I at least look at the scans before we go in?" Edwards questions eagerly.

"She's in there, but don't bother her. She's working on the diagnosis," Pierce cautions.

Edwards knows Robbins pretty well, and knows how to work with her. Disregarding Pierce's concern, the resident turns slips into the consult room, closing the door quietly behind her.

Robbins looks up, surprised to see Edwards, but then remembering that she's assigned to Cardio now.

"I just wanted to get caught up on the Elliot case," Edwards says pausing to look over the screen closely.

Arizona doesn't reply, she just keeps looking through the scans.

Stephanie turns around and stands behind her curious about the diagnosis, but knowing enough not to ask questions yet.

"You're hovering," Arizona huffs turning her head slightly to catch the intern's eye.

"Sorry, I was just wanting to see the scans, I haven't seen a case like this before," Edwards says eying the screen.

"Neither have I," Arizona admits with another frown.

"Oh," Edwards mutters to herself.

"Do me a favor and head to the library and pull these two case files from the Johns Hopkins database, email them to me and print them out. We're going to need to do some comparison research before we can put a surgical plan together," Robbins says writing out the information quickly and handing it to the resident. "Don't hand this off to an intern, I need you to do it, so it's done correctly," she adds firmly.

"Yes Dr Robbins, I'll do it myself," Edwards replies taking the paper and heading out the door.

On her way to the library she runs into Murphy.

"Hey, my girlfriend's flight just landed and we're going to Joe's later, come by and meet her?" Murphy asks hopefully.

"Maybe, I just got an interesting case with Pierce and Robbins," Edwards answers.

"Fetal cardiothoracic?" Murphy asks suddenly quite interested.

"Back off, it's bad enough that I lost my spot in neuro to Blake and then you took it before I could get it back, no way that you're getting in on this, besides rumor has it that you're banned from Robbins' service," Edwards snaps before slipping into the library to get away from her.


	5. Chapter 5

"Have you seen Robbins?" Alex asks entering Meredith's office.

"Uh no and why would you even ask me?" Meredith replies curiously.

Alex rolls his eyes, "Don't give me that. Look, I was texting with her earlier and then she went silent on me," he explains.

"Then she's probably in surgery, she is a surgeon," Meredith teases him.

"No, I checked there first. She's not on the board, not in her office and not here. I need to talk to her, will you let her know if you see her?" He asks.

"Fine, but I won't see her. I'm getting ready to go home. What's going on? Why do you need to talk to her?" Meredith questions.

"I was reviewing a few of her peds cases and I wanted to make a few suggestions," he admits.

"Oh no, you should not be doing that Alex. Bailey has already assigned you to the clinic. Are you trying to lose your privileges completely?" Meredith warns him.

"No, Jo was in the clinic going over her cases with me. She had questions and couldn't find Robbins," he explains.

"Well, give her your suggestions and let her pass them onto Robbins," Meredith suggests.

"Yeah, I guess I'll have to. But how come you're not curious about where she is?" He questions.

"Because she is a surgeon and the Chief of Maternal Medicine. Alex, I am sure that she is here in the hospital somewhere. Probably on a consult," Meredith points out.

"I should check her consult list," Alex says snapping his fingers and rushing out of the office.

Meredith just shakes her head and continues pulling her things together. Maggie is working late and Amelia has a date with Owen, so this will be one of her rare nights at home alone with her children and she's looking forward to it.

* * *

"Have you seen Robbins?" Alex asks. "I saw that you had a consult with her," he adds explaining why he's asking.

"I think that she's still in the consult room, she sent Edwards up to the library to pull some cases for her. Can you believe that she just took my resident like that?" Maggie rambles.

"Edwards is good and she's already completed her Maternal medicine rotation. Arizona has a way with residents, she's a good teacher," Alex retorts.

"Uh, I did notice that," Maggie replies with a smile.

"God not you too," he grumbles shaking his head.

Not me too what?" Maggie asks.

"You've got that same goofy grin on your face that everyone gets when they have a crush on Robbins," he says dramatically.

"She's impressive, but I wouldn't call it a crush," Maggie says self-consciously.

"Yeah, well she takes her coffee light and way too sweet, she hates everything pumpkin, but loves pound cake and donuts. Now is she down the hall?" He asks standing at the door with his hand on the knob.

"Yeah, she was there last I checked. Alex, I don't have a thing for Arizona," Maggie states, although she can feel her face flushing.

"Whatever," he grumbles before closing the door and heading down the hall.

* * *

"Hey," he says sticking his head in the door to find Wilson, Edwards and Robbins reviewing case files.

"I'm busy, Karev." Arizona says without looking up.

"I just need a few minutes," he says entering the room and shutting the door.

The residents look at each other and then at Robbins, silently questioning if they should leave.

"You two stay here, keep researching. I'll be right back," Arizona says standing up and walking over to him. "Make it quick," she says gesturing to the door.

In the hall, he looks around nervously.

"Out with it Alex," Arizona demands.

"Did Jo tell you that she reviewed those cases with me today?" He asks.

"Yes and she took notes, which we're going to review tomorrow morning before rounds, is that what this is about?" Arizona asks.

"Yeah, but I wanted to go over the cases with you," he adds.

"That's not going to happen, Bailey said no surgical cases or consults with you," Arizona reminds him.

"Yeah, but that's not fair. It's bad enough that I'm banned from the OR and forced to work in the clinic doing scut work for a guy who isn't even half the doctor that I am," Alex complains.

"I get that you're frustrated, but Alex you can't piss Bailey off right now. You're lucky that you're working at all," Arizona points out.

"I know that," he grumbles. "Maybe Amelia is right, maybe I should take a leave of absence."

"And do what sit around drink beer and feel sorry for yourself? No, you don't get to wallow in this. You work in that clinic and you meet with your attorney and you prepare your case," Arizona snaps, poking him in the chest.

"Jesus, you're as bad as Meredith!" He quips rubbing his chest where she poked him.

"Meredith and I agree on this, so stop whining and go back to that clinic. If I have any questions, I'll come find you, okay?" She offers.

"Yeah, yeah, okay," he answers. "Wait, you and Meredith have talked about me?" Alex asks curiously.

Rolling her eyes, Arizona ignores the question and heads back into the consult room.

* * *

"Okay, so what is the plan?" Maggie asks entering the consult room to find Arizona working on the plan with Edwards and Wilson.

"First we tell them that it's not HCM," Edwards begins, but Maggie interrupts her.

"So we give them false hope," Pierce interjects.

"We're not... just hear us out Dr Pierce," Arizona says a bit annoyed by the presumption that she would mislead their patient.

"Dr Robbins, could we talk for a moment... alone," Pierce asks glaring at the two residents.

Arizona looks at them and nods for them to leave.

Pierce stands with her arms crossed, angry and impatient. She can't believe that Robbins left her out of this. She's just been sitting in her office, when she could have been in here working on the case.

"You're upset," Arizona says as soon as the door closes.

"Yes, I consulted you and you're in here working with them and not me. Now I realize that we haven't worked together much, if at all. But this isn't how I work. I am the lead surgeon on this case, I should be involved in this research," Maggie argues.

"Dr Pierce," the blonde begins. "I think that you've misunderstood. Michelle is your patient, her baby is my patient," Arizona explains carefully.

"They are both my patients, you are the consulting specialist," Maggie retorts.

"Okay, technically that is true," the blonde admits. "Okay, so sit down and I'll go over everything with you, then you can tell me if you agree with the plan," Arizona says almost apologetically.

Surprised, Maggie takes a seat. "Should we, uh, should we bring the residents back in?" She asks a bit embarrassed.

"No, I'll send them to get us coffee. You drink coffee, right?" Arizona asks flashing a small smile.

"Yes, coffee would be good," Maggie concedes.

* * *

"As much as I hate being sent out for coffee, I am definitely glad that we're not in that room," Jo remarks as they wait for the elevator.

"Speak for yourself, Pierce and Robbins are probably the two best surgeons in this hospital. When we get back, they'll probably have changed the whole plan and we'll have missed it," Edwards grumbles.

The elevator doors open and Meredith steps in. "Dr Grey," they greet her in unison.

Meredith smirks. "Dr Wilson. Dr Edwards, how was your first heart transplant?" She asks turning to the younger surgeon.

"It went fine. Dr Riggs is a good teacher. But now I'm working with Dr Pierce on a new case," Edwards says excitedly.

"Yeah, we both are. Robbins was consulted," Jo interjects, she hates it when Meredith ignores her.

Just then the elevator opens to the main floor and the three surgeons exit.

"They, uh, they sent us to get coffee," Edwards admits pointing to the coffee cart outside.

"Sounds like a long night," Meredith remarks. "Let me know how it goes," she calls after them.

* * *

Arizona is just leaving the patient's room after reviewing everything with her and her husband. It went rather well and although she was worried about the Cardiothoracic surgeon, Pierce managed to follow her lead and let her do most of the talking.

"Dr Robbins," Pierce calls after her before she can get too far away.

"Yes," Arizona replies turning back around.

"It's late and I was wondering if you would like to grab some dinner?" Maggie asks, swallowing nervously.

The blonde takes a few steps back towards her. "Are you asking me out?" Arizona questions.

"Uh, no not asking you out like for a date, just dinner. W-we're colleagues," Maggie stammers.

"I know, I was just messing with you," Arizona says with a twinkle in her eye. "Thanks for asking Dr Pierce, but I'm going to pass. I have a few more cases to review before I call it a night," she adds with a wink.

"Oh, okay," Maggie exclaims exhaling a breath that she didn't know she was holding.

* * *

Back in her office, Arizona is just setting down to finish up her work when her phone buzzes.

"You should come over, I cooked dinner for the kids and I saved you a plate," Meredith's text says.

"Give it to your sister, she's starving and I turned her down for dinner." Arizona sends the message with a chuckle.

A moment later her phone rings. "Maggie asked you out?" Meredith blurts out as soon as the call connects.

"I don't think she meant it like that, but I teased her about it and she blushed quite a bit, so I'm not sure," Arizona explains.

"Arizona, she did not ask you out, my sister is straight," Meredith replies.

"She's not as straight as you think she is, I'd put her in the bi-curious category myself," Arizona quips.

"Really? Damn, she's here. I'm calling you back," Meredith whispers before ending the call.


	6. Chapter 6

"Robbins, to-go order," the blonde says slipping on to the bar stool to wait for her order. She spins around slowly and freezes when she spots Murphy, Wilson and Edwards sitting in a booth with another woman. Praying that her order comes quickly, Arizona turns back around hoping that they didn't see her.

"Robbins," the bartender says loudly as he comes back from the kitchen.

Arizona hands him her card and reminds herself not to turn around.

"It's kind of late for a burger, isn't it?" Wilson teases taking the seat beside the blonde.

"It is, but I had a salad for lunch and I'm starving," Arizona remarks.

"Murphy's girlfriend is here for a visit, you should come meet her," Wilson says cryptically.

"What? Definitely not," Arizona snaps. "Have you lost your damn mind?"

"I think you'd find her interesting and I know that you two have a lot in common," Jo replies laughing softly.

"Okay, just tell me. What's going on?" Arizona blurts out. "Wait, no. I don't want to know. Not tonight anyway. We can discuss it in the morning. Don't stay out too late, we have a big day tomorrow," the blonde reminds her.

"I've been trying to leave for an hour now," Jo confides.

"Good luck with that, now cover me so I can escape!" Arizona exclaims before slipping off the stool and bolting for the door.

"Was that Arizona?" Murphy asks when Wilson returns to the table.

"Yeah, she had to get home though, we have a big case tomorrow," Wilson says suddenly realizing that this is her ticket out.

"Oh right, WE do have a big case with Pierce and Robbins," Edwards adds. "I'll drop you off," she says handing Wilson her jacket.

"Oh thanks," she says taking her jacket from Edwards. "Well hey it was great to meet you," Wilson says to the girlfriend and Edwards echoes the sentiment before pushing Wilson towards the door.

"Oh thank god, that was brilliant," Edwards says once they're outside.

"You know that I don't need a ride home, I drove today," Wilson says as they walk back towards the hospital.

"Yeah, but they didn't know that and there was no way that you were going to leave me there with them," Edwards blurts out. "Did you tell Robbins?"

"I tried but she wouldn't let me," Wilson remarks.

"Well, I can't wait for her to find out. This will be hilarious, that girl couldn't be more like her," Edwards jokes.

"I know, right? It's really eerie, she looks like her and talks like her and is an amputee," Wilson remarks.

"It would only be more weird if she was a surgeon," Edwards points out as they approach their cars. "See you tomorrow," she says before slipping into her car.

* * *

"I can't believe that you're eating take out when you could have had a home cooked meal," Meredith grouses into the phone.

"Did you talk to your sister, because I am telling you she really did ask me out," Arizona replies before taking another bite of her burger.

"I'm not going to ask her, because I know that you're wrong. It took Maggie a month to ask that Radiologist out and she talked about it incessantly the whole time. Hell I almost asked him to ask her out," Meredith exclaims.

"Well I hope that you're right, because I don't handle these things well," Arizona remarks.

"What are you talking about?" Meredith asks her voice raising a little.

"Damn," Arizona blurts out, how did she let herself get into this conversation.

"Arizona," Meredith says letting the blonde know that she is expecting an explanation.

"Meredith, we still haven't talked about what is happening with us," Arizona points out bluntly.

"We haven't. But is that one of the things that you don't handle well?" Meredith questions.

"I really don't want to talk about this over the phone," Arizona replies with a sigh.

Meredith sighs in response. Then she swallows down her fear and makes a decision.

"Arizona, what if I ask you out? Would you go out with me?" She asks nervously.

"Meredith no. Please, please don't do this," Arizona replies softly.

"Wait, seriously you would turn me down?" Meredith balks loudly, before adjusting her voice. "We just ate dinner together last night, what the hell Arizona?"

"Last night we had dinner together as colleagues, as friends," Arizona points out. "It wasn't a date," she adds defensively.

"You paid, I think it was a date," Meredith counters.

"It wasn't," Arizona exclaims. "Trust me, if that was a date, there would have been a kiss. I wouldn't take a woman out to dinner and not kiss her good night. What kind of lesbian do you think I am?" She jokes.

"Well, we've already kissed," Meredith reminds her.

"A kiss three months ago doesn't count," Arizona argues. "Look, this is getting weird. I was trying to avoid letting this get weird between us. I like having you as a friend Meredith."

"I like having you as a friend, but I am attracted to you and since I kissed you, things between us are already weird. You have just been ignoring the weirdness," Meredith remarks.

"Okay," Arizona says resigning suddenly.

"Okay? Like I am right, okay? You mean you'll go out with me?" Meredith asks needing the blonde to clarify what she is agreeing to.

"Okay, things may have gotten a bit weird with us. But no to the date, because I am taking you out," Arizona replies.

"I asked first, you don't get to say no and then turn around and ask me out. Are all lesbian contrary like this?" Meredith argues, finding herself both amused and annoyed.

"Yeah, but you don't know how to date women and I'm not going to subject myself to that, so yeah, I'm taking you out. Get a sitter for Saturday, I'll pick you up at 7," the blonde says decidedly.

* * *

"Maggie, do you have a minute?" Meredith asks after they drop off Bailey and Ellis at daycare the next morning.

"Not really, I need to meet with Robbins in ten minutes," Maggie says glancing at her watch.

"I'll walk with you," Meredith suggests.

"Meredith what's going on?" Maggie asks concerned.

"I, uh, I sort of have a date on Saturday night," Meredith confesses as she steps in and pushes the call button for the elevator.

"Oh, well that's no problem, I can stay home and watch the kids," Maggie offers quickly. "But wait who are you going out with?"

"Good morning doctors," Arizona says stepping up behind them at the elevator.

"Meredith has a date Saturday night," Maggie blurts out.

"Oh really, anyone we know Dr Grey?" Arizona teases.

"It's new," Meredith says glaring at the blonde.

"Well, will I get to meet him. Is he picking you up at the house?" Maggie inquires as they enter the elevator.

"No and definitely no," Meredith replies, still annoyed at the blonde.

The elevator doors open and Arizona moves between them to step out. "I'll see you in a few minutes Dr Pierce."

"Dr Robbins, I need a word with you," Meredith says following her out of the elevator.

"Yes, Dr Grey," Arizona says brightly wiggling her eyebrows.

"I was going to tell her and now I can't," Meredith points out, pausing for Arizona to unlock her office.

"You were going to tell her ten minutes before I'm meeting with her on a consult?" Arizona counters as they enter the office. "Bad idea, because if she was asking me last night, then we would be awkward together on this case. And we cannot be awkward on this case."

"Fine, then I won't tell her and she'll figure it out on Saturday, when you pick me up," Meredith replies sarcastically.

"Meredith, you can tell her, I'm not asking you to hide this from your sister. And you should tell her, just not here at work. And not right before I am going to meet her for a consult," Arizona says reaching out to rest her hand on the other woman's shoulder.

Meredith smiles at the contact and leans in to it, "Good, because I don't want to hide this," she murmurs closing the gap to give the blonde a light kiss.

Arizona steps back. "No kissing! We haven't even had a date yet," she teases, her blue eyes twinkling playfully.

Rolling her eyes, Meredith opens the door to leave, but then turns back to her. "This date had better be good," she quips flashing her own bright smile and twinkling blue eyes.

Arizona leans in the doorway watching her walk away before noticing Wilson approaching.

"I am fairly certain that I have never seen Meredith Grey smile like that," Jo says pointing over her shoulder as she enters the office.

Arizona turns around still smiling brightly at the exchange with Meredith and Jo gasps.

"Oh wait. My god, you and Meredith Grey!" Jo gushes after shutting the office door.

"Colleagues and friends," Arizona replies turning back to her desk and organizing her things. "Now we are going to be late for rounds with Pierce."

"Yes, I remember," Jo responds opening the door to the office and letting the blonde pass through first. "Seriously though, does Alex know about you two?" She whispers as they walk towards the elevator.

"Wilson, stop talking. And if I hear one word about this from anyone else, you'll be off my service," Arizona snaps.

"Wow, okay then. Jeez, I don't see what the big deal is," she mutters under her breath as they enter the elevator.

Arizona looks at the resident a moment, before reaching out and pulling the stop button on the elevator.

"Wilson, look. I may have overreacted a little bit. But please just leave it alone. This is new, this whatever it is with Meredith and I just don't want people gossiping about us. If this turns into an 'us' thing, then we'll tell people, but right now it's not anything that anyone needs to know, okay?" Arizona asks.

"I get that. And I swear, I won't say a word, not even to Alex," Jo promises.

Arizona exhales and then pushes the stop button back in. "Thank you Wilson," she replies.

* * *

"Hey have you met Murphy's girlfriend yet?" Meredith asks stepping into the scrub room as Arizona is scrubbing out of surgery.

"No, and why do people keep asking me that?" Arizona asks, obviously annoyed by the question.

"Wait until you meet her," Meredith answers cryptically.

"Meredith," Arizona says. "I saw her for a hot second at the bar last night. She was cute and blonde. You have to tell me why everyone keeps saying that."

"Her name is Montana and she is a pediatrician and she lost a leg in a hiking accident," Meredith blurts out, before bursting into a fit of laughter.

Arizona stands stunned. "And you were just going to let me walk into that?" She asks giving the other woman a playful shove.

"Well, I realized that it would be funnier to tell you myself where we could actually laugh about it," Meredith answers wiping a tear from her eye.

"I'm going to kill Jo Wilson. She was going to let me walk into that," Arizona says shaking her head.

"Speaking of Wilson, what is up with her? I just saw her in the elevator and I'm pretty sure that she got off on the fourth floor just to avoid being alone with me. Unless she has some sort of dermatology crisis that I don't know about." Meredith quips.

"Uh, well Jo sort of suspects that something is up between us," Arizona informs her.

"Oh," Meredith replies, but still not understanding.

"Don't worry, I told her to keep it to herself or I'd kick her off my service," Arizona jokes.

"Arizona, we don't have to hide this. I don't care if people know," Meredith retorts.

"Well, I don't like people gossiping about me. And I'm not exactly looking forward to people finding out about us. They'll say terrible things about me converting you," Arizona complains.

"Converting me? Half the hospital thought that Cristina and I were dating." Meredith reminds her. "I don't think they will blink an eye at me being with you," she adds.

"You are forgetting how brutal the gossip mill is at this hospital. I'm still the crazy lesbian who cheated on Dr Torres and slept with a resident. And you will always be Meredith Grey, Derek Shepherd's widow," Arizona argues.

"My life with Derek doesn't define me any more than your life with Callie defines you. They are people who we loved, but we're still us and we deserve to find happiness without them," Meredith retorts.

"I know that Meredith, but can we please wait until putting whatever this is out there to them? Can't we just figure it out first?" Arizona asks, reaching out for the other surgeon's hand and giving it a light squeeze.

"Okay, as long as you're not trying to hide it," Meredith replies pulling the blonde's hand to bring her closer.

"No kissing," Arizona reminds her.

Meredith rolls her eyes, then glancing out into the hall she spots Ben Warren. "I should go, I have surgery in ten minutes," she says moving towards the door.

"Oh and hey Webber is going to cover Peds, so I am going to get out early tomorrow," Arizona informs her.

"That seems like a thing that you would tell your girlfriend and I thought that we weren't dating yet," Meredith teases her before heading out of the room.


	7. Chapter 7

DeLuca hears Arizona's flirty laugh before he even unlocks the front door. Wondering when and where she met this one, he enters the house and gives her a small wave, before ducking into the kitchen to grab a beer.

"Hey I should probably let you go, DeLuca is home," Arizona remarks softly.

"Well, Maggie is on the porch, so I should go too," Meredith admits and they end the call.

"Hey, you're home early," Arizona remarks.

"Sorry, you didn't have to end your conversation, I was headed upstairs," he says pausing to take another sip of his beer.

"It's fine. It was just Meredith, I was telling her about finally meeting Murphy's girlfriend," Arizona explains still laughing about it.

"Oh right, wow does Leah have a type or what," Andrew exclaims.

"It is kind of weird in a stalkery way though, right? I'm not just being overly sensitive?" Arizona asks him seriously.

"Definitely weird," he agrees with an odd look on his face.

"What's that look for?" Arizona questions because she's not sure his comment was about the Leah situation or something else.

"No look. I was just surprised that you were talking to Dr Grey," he answers.

"Why? We're friends and we work together, we talk all the time," Arizona replies.

"Yeah, but I heard your flirty laugh. The one that you do at the bar when a cute girl buys you a drink," he begins to explain apologetically. "Unless..."

"Unless what? And I don't do that...I don't have a flirty laugh," Arizona says defensively, earning her another look from her roommate.

"You totally do, so what's up with you and Meredith Grey?" Andrew asks curiously.

Arizona groans. "Why are you asking? Did someone say something to you?"

"Ever since you got back from New York, you've been working insane hours at the hospital. But I've overheard you on the phone being all flirty with someone a couple of times now. And you just admitted that it was Dr Grey. So what's up with that?" He asks again plopping down in the chair across from her.

The blonde huffs in annoyance. But he is her roommate and she hasn't really discussed this with anyone yet, Wilson definitely doesn't count. "Okay but Andrew, this doesn't leave this house. Seriously," Arizona warns him.

"Of course, you know that I don't gossip. I mean, people tell me things, but I don't repeat them," he reminds her.

"I might be sort of dating Meredith Grey. We are going out Saturday on a date," she informs him.

"A date?" He blurts out surprised. "I thought that you didn't go for straight women?"

"Just because she was married to a man, doesn't automatically make her straight. Callie was married to a man before me," Arizona reminds him.

"Okay, okay. I don't know Dr Grey very well, but she just never struck me as anything but straight," Andrew replies apologetically.

"Well, she's not. I would know, seriously. Lifelong lesbian here," Arizona jokes.

* * *

The front door opens right after Meredith ends the call.

"Hey," Maggie says entering the living room.

"There is a plate in the microwave for you, should still be warm," Meredith says glancing up from a journal that Maggie is certain was just opened for her benefit.

"Um, who were you talking to on the phone?" Maggie asks curiously. Because before she opened the door, she noticed Meredith on the phone and from the way she was smiling, she had to be flirting with whoever it was.

"Excuse me?" Meredith asks, wondering now how long was her sister standing there before she opened the door.

"I thought I heard you on the phone and I was just curious who it was?" Maggie asks again.

Deciding to play it off, Meredith answers with a laugh. "Well, I was just talking to Arizona, she finally met Murphy's girlfriend today."

"Oh, right. Montana, I meet her today in the cafeteria. But why is it so funny? Everyone has been laughing about it and I don't get it," Maggie asks as she plops down on the couch opposite her sister.

"Arizona had a brief fling with Murphy a few years ago. She and Callie were separated and Murphy was the rebound. And she took it sort of hard when they got back together, but that isn't the funny part. The funny part is that her new girlfriend is also named after a state and is a Peds doctor." Meredith points out.

"She is an amputee too. OH NO, that's terrible!" Maggie blurts out, trying not to laugh.

"See, that's why we're laughing about it. But Arizona doesn't think it is funny and she is a little upset," Meredith explains.

"And you were teasing her about it? Sorry, I just heard you laughing before I opened the door," Maggie offers.

"Yeah, well I saw the whole thing happen on my way to get the kids from daycare, so I called her to see how it went," Meredith replies still laughing a little about it as she pages through the journal.

"The thing is. The laugh that I heard, the one through the door. It wasn't your usual laugh," Maggie says carefully. "This laugh was a flirty laugh."

Meredith stops laughing and returns to the journal in her lap. "Your dinner is in microwave," she mentions again.

"This morning in the elevator, you started to tell me something about a date?" Maggie questions.

Meredith groans and closes the journal. She debates internally for a moment before just blurting it out, "Okay, yes it's Arizona. My date on Saturday is with Arizona."

Maggie sits stunned by the admission, even though she had suspected it, she is still a bit shocked by it.

"I just don't want it to be a big deal. We've gotten close these past several months and it just sort of happened," Meredith explains.

"So, when... I mean, how long... er, since when?" Maggie stammers still trying to process the news.

"Nothing really has happened between us, except that we have both realized that we would like it to, so that is why we're going out on a date," Meredith continues to explain.

"Oh," Maggie replies. "Um, I didn't know that and I sort of asked her out. I didn't realize that I was asking her out, but she did and she called me on it." She stops wringing her hands and stands up.

Meredith waits because she feels the spiraling rant coming on.

Maggie walks across the room and then turns around abruptly. "Wow, this is so awkward and embarrassing. I mean, I've never asked a woman out before. And not only did she turn me down, but she turned me down because she's interested in dating you. I didn't even know that you dated women. But you must, because you're calm about this. And I would be a mess. I almost talked to you about this last night, but I was still processing it. I could barely face her today and then only because I decided to pretend that she was wrong. But she wasn't wrong and now, how am I going to work with her on this case?" She blurts out rapidly.

"First, you didn't know that she and I were anything but friends. And we just decided to go out yesterday. Yes, I have dated women, but not since college. Now, if you've never dated a woman before, why did you ask her out?" Meredith questions.

"Because Amelia and I were talking at lunch the other day and I realized that Arizona has all of the qualities that I am looking for and maybe I shouldn't limit myself to just dating men," Maggie explains.

"Well, I should have known that Amelia would have put you up to this," Meredith groans.

"Amelia didn't put me up to anything. It was an impulsive decision on my part to ask Arizona out. And you are the only person who I have talked to about this," Maggie retorts.

"Well, Arizona gets it, or she wouldn't have called you on it," Meredith points out. "And you don't need to feel awkward around her because of it," she advises.

* * *

The next day finds Meredith in back to back surgeries, she spends the day juggling pre-op and post-op. General surgery is so busy that both Murphy and Edwards are reassigned to help her.

"Hey, I didn't think you had time for lunch, so I brought you a smoothie," Arizona says stopping by Meredith's office.

"Oh thanks, but you know I hate those things," Meredith says with a frown, but she takes it anyway.

"Thank me later," Arizona calls out before leaving.

* * *

"Dr Robbins, I just got a note about that consult," Bailey says entering the blonde's office.

"Yeah, hopefully it's not TRAP, they're going to repeat the ultrasound with the margins that I gave them. We should know more later today," Arizona replies.

"But if it is, you'll go there to perform the procedure?" Bailey questions, she doesn't like the thought of any of her people going to a prison for any reason.

"Yes, they can't transport her here. The attorney has tried to get permission, but the warden denied her request," Arizona explains.

"Well, keep me posted because I'm going with you," Bailey grumbles.

"You don't have to do that Miranda. Wilson and I will be fine," Arizona states.

"Maybe, but you haven't even seen this patient yet. So you don't really know what you're walking into, I'm going with you, between the two of us and Wilson, we'll get in and get out quicker," Bailey points out.

* * *

After reviewing the Peds patient charts with Webber, Arizona heads back to her office before leaving for the day. She is already thinking about everything that she needs to do when she gets home, which is why she doesn't notice the woman standing at the nurses' station waiting for her.

"Dr Robbins, do you have a minute?" The woman asks.

The blonde looks up at the attractive brunette, then she remembers who she is and she can just guess why she is there.

"Not really, I am heading out for the day. And Dr Webber is covering Peds, so if you need a consult, he's your man," Arizona says unlocking her office and opening the door. She doesn't enter, because she doesn't want this encounter to last any longer than necessary.

"Perfect," Minnick replies smugly. "I'm done for the day as well. I believe that you agreed to have drinks with me last week, why don't we do that now. The bar at my hotel has a decent selection of wine and it is right across the street," she adds.

Arizona crosses her arms and leans back against the door trying to decide how to handle this. She is not going to be seen having drinks at that hotel bar with Eliza Minnick.

"Joe's. In about fifteen minutes," the blonde says quickly.

"Oh come on, we can do better than Joe's," Minnick replies, but when she turns around the blonde isn't there and her office door is closed.

"Okay, I guess Joe's is fine," Minnick mutters to herself as she walks away.

* * *

Alex is sitting at the bar having a beer. He is still reeling from the news that Jo is married and that's why she wouldn't marry him. When Arizona walked in, he was about to call her over, but she quickly made her way to the table in the back. In the bar mirror he watches her talk to the woman that Bailey just hired to help Webber with the residency program. He sees the brunette smile and realizes that maybe they're on a date, which is weird because he really thought that Arizona and Meredith were going to be a thing. Grunting he pulls out his phone to see if Meredith has responded to his text. She did, but all it says is OR 3.

* * *

She enters Joe's and immediately spots the brunette at a table in the back. Of course, she would pick that table Arizona groans internally, she herself always picks that table when she's meeting a woman here.

"Hi," Arizona says sliding into the booth across from her. Surprised to see a glass of wine already waiting for her.

"I told the bartender that I was meeting you. He said this is your usual," Eliza replies confidently.

"Thank you," Arizona says before taking a sip of the wine.

"Thank you for meeting me tonight," Eliza says before taking a sip of her own drink.

"Yeah, about that. There has been a misunderstanding," Arizona says deciding to be upfront and direct about why she is here.

"A misunderstanding?" Eliza questions. "I am pretty sure that I asked you for drinks and you agreed, so here we are having drinks."

"Yes, but that's all this is. Two new colleagues meeting for drinks," Arizona clarifies.

"Colleagues?" Minnick inquires. "I didn't ask you out to get to know my coworker, Arizona. I asked you out for the same reason that you agreed. We are lesbians and we are attracted to each other," she points out.

"Eliza, that was a week ago, things have changed," Arizona replies hesitantly, not wanting to give the other woman much information. "Not the part about being a lesbian. I am definitely still a lesbian."

"Oh, well that's a relief," the brunette responds sarcastically. "So what you are really saying is that in the past week, you have met someone," Minnick states.

The blonde nods. Thankful that the other woman gets it.

"That's fine. I don't mind competing, because I always win," she says flirting confidently.

Arizona was afraid of that response. It is almost exactly how she herself would respond if their roles were reversed.

"I'm not telling you this because I want you to compete with her," Arizona replies carefully. "I-" she begins but decides to be more direct. "Eliza, this is someone who I really care about and I am sure that you are great, but I don't even know you."

The brunette remains quiet, contemplating this situation. If she presses it, she is sure that the blonde will shut her down harder.

"I'm disappointed, obviously, but I'm not going anywhere. I have a two year contract," she points out.


	8. Chapter 8

Alex hands the bartender cash for his beer and stands up to leave. He's made a decision and he needs to tell Meredith. She won't like it and she won't agree, but he knows that it is the right thing to do. Jo isn't one to run scared, so this asshole husband of hers must be a really bad dude for her go to this much trouble to get away from him. Taking the plea deal will be the only way to prevent her from having to testify in court. Unfortunately, it will cost him everything, but there's no way he can ask her to expose herself and risk this guy finding her.

* * *

Meredith is walking out of the recovery room followed by Leah Murphy, when she spots Alex walking towards her.

"Murphy get those lab reports and check on the patient and I'll meet you in pre-op," she says handing the chart to the resident.

"Yes Dr Grey," Murphy replies wondering what is up, because Karev looks terrible.

"I need to talk to you," Alex says grabbing her arm and pulling her around the corner.

"You look like crap," she remarks crossing her arms.

"I know that you won't agree with this decision, but I am going to take the deal," he blurts out.

"No. No you are not taking the deal. That will end your medical career," Meredith snaps angrily.

"I can't let her testify, because if I lose then I won't be around to protect her from this guy," Alex explains.

"If you take the deal, you'll be in prison and ... Alex, she has lied to you this whole time. You don't even know her real name. And it's not just some guy, it's her husband. How do you know that she is even telling you the truth now?" Meredith questions.

"I know her Mer. And she isn't scared of much, but this guy, she is so scared of him, that she changed her name and moved across the country to get away from him. I did this. I almost killed a guy. I'm taking the deal, it's the right thing to do," Alex replies firmly.

Before Meredith can respond, one of the new interns rushes up to them. "Dr Grey, the labs are back. You're needed in pre-op right now, the patient is coding."

"Damn it, I have to go. You need to talk this through more, call Arizona, let her talk some sense into you," Meredith begs him.

"I don't want to bother her, she's on a date or something with Minnick," Alex blurts out, running his hand through his hair.

Ignoring his remark about Arizona, because she knows that it can't be true, Meredith instead replies, "We are not done talking about this, just don't do anything yet," she calls over her shoulder as she rushes off.

* * *

With the patient stabilized and her surgery postponed, Meredith heads back to her office to call Alex. It goes right to voice mail, so she calls Arizona, maybe she's talked to him.

"Have you talked to Alex?" She asks as soon as the blonde answers the phone.

"No, I just got home, why?" Arizona questions as she shuts her front door.

"I thought that you left early, why are you just now getting home?" Meredith asks as Alex's remark comes back to her.

"I had a few stops to make," Arizona replies breezily. "Now, what is up with Alex," she asks again.

"Nothing, I'll handle it," Meredith says sharply. If this thing with Minnick wasn't a big deal, she would have told her, wouldn't she?

"Meredith, what is happening?" Arizona questions, setting her things on the counter.

"Did you just have a drinks with Eliza Minnick and lie to me about it?" Meredith snaps.

"Wow," Arizona exclaims in surprise. "I did have a drink with her, but I didn't mention it because it's not important and obviously you are concerned about Alex, so what is up with Alex?"

"Were you even going to tell me about going out with Minnick?" Meredith asks. "I've seen the way she looks at you."

"Meredith, she asked me out for a drink early last week and I said yes. Then today when I was leaving she asked me if we could do it tonight, so I agreed. But I made it clear to her that it was not a date, there is nothing going on with me and Eliza Minnick," Arizona explains firmly.

"Fine." She retorts and it's obvious to the blonde that nothing about it is fine.

"Meredith, I'll come over and help you find Alex," Arizona offers.

"No, just don't bother. I'll find Alex, hopefully before he does something really stupid," Meredith says ending the call abruptly

Arizona sits stunned, she can't believe that Meredith hung up on her. And how the hell did she already know about me meeting Minnick for a drink. One stupid drink. Well at least it was at Joe's and not the hotel bar, she reminds herself.

Before she can decide what to do next, shower or eat, her phone buzzes. She grabs it quickly, but it's not from Meredith or Alex, it's from the hospital exchange.

Sighing, she calls in, "This is Dr Robbins, you paged." She listens for a moment, then grabs paper and a pen to start making notes. "Thank you, is Chief Bailey aware of this request?" Arizona asks.

"Yes ma'am. She and doctor Wilson are on their way in to meet you here," the scheduling nurse replies.

"Okay, well let them know that I am on my way," Arizona says before ending the call.

* * *

"This is so gross, look at this one, it has feet," Wilson exclaims leaning forward to show the picture to Bailey.

"Wilson," Arizona warns over her shoulder.

"What, it's not a baby. It's just a mass of skin and cells, it's like a tumor," Wilson replies defensively.

"Wilson," Arizona repeats to get her attention. "Stop talking about symptoms and start talking about patient," she demands.

"Kristian Rochester, 16, 31 weeks pregnant, preliminary ultrasound shows likely TRAP syndrome," Wilson says reviewing the information from the email on her phone, while Arizona drives them to the prison hospital. She had been consulting the prison OB on this case, but once they realized it was TRAP, Arizona had no choice and tonight was the only window they would give her to see the patient. The timing couldn't be worse.

* * *

"You look terrible," Maggie says entering the kitchen the next morning.

"Thanks, Alex is gone." Meredith replies sadly.

"Gone? I just saw him yesterday and the trial is..." Maggie responds confused.

"Over. The trial is over. He took the plea deal and he's in jail now I guess, because he's not answering his phone and I'm pretty sure that they take your phone, when you're in jail," Meredith rambles and takes another sip of her cold coffee.

"Meredith, I don't understand. When did all of this happen?" Maggie asks sitting down at the table.

"Yesterday, he spoke with Jo and she gave him this whole story about a bad ex-husband who will track her down if she testifies at the trial, so he took the plea and now there won't be a trial," Meredith explains.

"Wow, that is insane and intense," Maggie replies.

"Arizona went out to Joe's with Eliza Minnick last night," Meredith grumbles.

"Everyone grabs a drink after work at Joe's that doesn't mean it was a date," Maggie points out. "And Minnick is staying at the Archibald, if it was a date, wouldn't she have picked that bar, it's a lot nicer than Joe's."

"But people saw them together, sitting in the back at the 'date' table," Meredith admits angrily.

"Have you talked to her about it? I'm sure that it's nothing. Minnick is hot, but evil hot. I can't see Arizona going for that," Maggie remarks.

"She tried to talk to me last night, and now she hasn't returned my texts and isn't answering her phone."

"She's a surgeon, there's only one reason that she wouldn't answer and that's because she's in surgery," Maggie reminds her.

"Well, she could be mad that I hung up on her," Meredith admits.

"Okay, well I need to call her about the case we have together, if she doesn't answer me, then we'll know that she's with a patient," Maggie offers picking up her phone and sending a message to Arizona.

A moment later Maggie's phone buzzes and it's Jo Wilson.

"Hey Dr Wilson, can you tell me if Dr Robbins has seen the overnight labs on the Elliot case yet, I have questions," Maggie replies easily.

Meredith waits as Maggie listens to Wilson's response.

"Okay, let her know that I'll call in that order now, thanks Dr Wilson," Maggie replies before ending the call and turning back to her sister.

"So?" Meredith asks impatiently.

"Arizona spent the night at Tri-County Hospital with Bailey and Wilson operating on a patient, they're on their way back now," Maggie replies. "Arizona is driving," she adds.

"Oh," Meredith says deflating a bit. "

"Now, let me call in this order and then we can go online and check on Alex's case. Do you have his case number?" Maggie asks.

"I think he emailed it to me a while back, let me find it," Meredith replies grabbing her phone.

* * *

Arizona is exhausted. She saw the voicemail from Meredith when they got their phones back, but there was no way that she was going to listen to it after the night she had. When Pierce paged, she had Wilson return it, but she had to wonder if that was Meredith's way of trying to figure out where she was. Too tired to think about it and still annoyed with the other woman, Arizona decides to ignore it for now and focus only on what she has to do before she can lay down for an hour or two. Glancing at the clock on the dash, she realizes that she's been up for more than 24 hours now.

"Wilson, grab us coffee and meet me in my office, we need to review the Elliott case, first thing," she says over her shoulder as they unpack the car.

"Well this is going to be a long day for all of us, but good work tonight doctors," Bailey says stifling a yawn as she grabs one of the rolling bags.

* * *

"Do you know anything about what's going on with Alex? Bailey told me that he was going to accept the plea?" Arizona asks softly leaning over so Maggie can hear her.

They are waiting in an on-call room for Webber. He wants to talk with them about the Minnick situation. Arizona wants to support him, but she also wants to try to stay out of it. She's exhausted and just needs to get through today with as little drama as possible.

"We looked it up this morning and his case has been postponed. We don't know what that means and he isn't answering his phone," Maggie explains. "Meredith is making some calls, trying to find out where he's being processed."

"Okay, well let me know what she finds out please," Arizona asks.

Webber and Jackson are arguing but Arizona can barely focus on what it is about. The knock on the door that she's still leaning against startles her.

"Occupied," April calls out.

"It's Murphy. I need Robbins, there is a laboring mom on her way," Murphy says through the door.

Arizona groans, that is all she needs right now. "Keep me posted," she says before leaving the room.

* * *

"She's on her way, right now, in a taxi," Murphy explains. "Her contractions are less than three minutes apart."

"So page Portman. Portman is on call and I've been up all night," Arizona informs the resident.

"Portman is already here and in OR 3. The driver thinks that she's going to have the baby any minute," Murphy replies.

"Wait, how are you talking to the driver?" Arizona asks confused.

Murphy takes the tablet that she's been cradling in her arms and opens the link again," Oh, he's called in on video chat, I almost forgot!" She exclaims taking the call off of hold and showing it to the fetal surgeon.

"Hello, it's Dr Robbins," Arizona says not real happy with Murphy right now.

She continues to consult with the patient over video chat and they are almost to the hospital when the unthinkable happens, they are hit by another car. Murphy and Arizona run to the ER.


	9. Chapter 9

"Ma'am, have you checked his case online? We have a website, you don't have to come down here in person," the clerk replies clearly annoyed to have field this type of inquiry.

"Yes, I checked the website. It just says that the case is closed. I need to know why it's closed. I need to find Alex Karev," Meredith replies clearly frustrated.

"Have you spoken with his attorney? I'm sure they can tell you why it's closed, I can't release that information to you," the clerk says dismissively and looks to the next person in line.

Meredith huffs and steps away from the window. Alex's attorney hasn't returned her call either. Deciding to check in with the hospital, she calls Arizona, but it goes straight to voicemail again. She calls Maggie next and it does too. So she texts her sister and immediately gets a response back.

"Heading to the ER for a consult with Robbins," is all it says.

Great, well at least she knows the blonde isn't avoiding her.

* * *

In the ER, Wilson is annoyed and distracted. The district attorney called and told her that the trial was postponed indefinitely, so she stayed to work her shift. But now she is assigned to cover the ER while Murphy is working a trauma with Robbins and Pierce. And she still has no idea what's going on with Alex. She's called and texted him, but he hasn't replied.

If Bailey is right and he did take the plea, Alex could be sitting in jail right now, waiting to be transferred to prison, she thinks.

* * *

Eliza Minnick is pissed. Her plan to observe surgeries all day is not going well. It's as if the attendings are working together to keep her out of their ORs. They are not following the OR schedule that she set up this morning and now she has no idea what is going on. Everytime she enters an OR, the surgery is either concluded or it's not the one she wanted to observe.

* * *

"How's the mother?" Edwards asks approaching the accident scene in the parking lot.

"Bad," Arizona replies still dazed by the the lack of sleep and the fact that she was talking to the mother when the accident happened.

"Bilateral hip dislocation," Warren replies examining the patient on the stretcher. "She must have had her legs up on the dash."

"What?" Arizona asks.

"She was in labor right? So she must have put her legs up to relieve the pain, then in the accident the airbag went off and..."

"Her legs were shoved into her chest," Arizona finishes his theory as they rush her into the ER.

* * *

"I've been running around trying to get information at the courthouse, but no one can tell me anything. How are things at the hospital?" Meredith asks, when Maggie calls to check in with her later that morning.

"Well we just had three people injured in a 2 car accident, that happened right in front of the ER. A pregnant woman in labor and the taxi driver who was bringing her in. Hit by her husband rushing here for the birth," Maggie explains.

"That sucks. Look, should I come in to help or keep looking for Alex?" Meredith asks worriedly.

"Just keep looking for Alex, we've got this covered," Maggie replies.

"Well, keep an eye on Arizona, she's been up for over 30 hours now," Meredith notes before ending the call.

Maggie looks over at Arizona sitting at the CT console.

"Any news on Alex," she asks the brunette, eyes still focused on the computer as they wait for the results of the scan.

"No, she hasn't found him and he's still not answering his phone. How are you? I heard about your case last night, you've been up now for what 30 hours?" Maggie asks concerned.

"33 hours to be exact. But listen the guy that hit her is her husband, he was just trying to get here and now everything is so much worse," Arizona explains worriedly. "Oh, here are the scans," she says pulling them up, so they can review them on the main screen.

Murphy and Pierce lean into review them with her. There's no way she can have the baby with bilateral hip dislocations and her pelvis is shattered blocking the birth canal, they'll need to perform a c-section and then repair the damage. Arizona swallows hard, she can't help but feel like this is all her fault for advising the woman to put her legs up.

"Murphy go book an OR," Arizona directs before turning to Pierce. "I'll perform the c-section if you can help control the bleeders."

"I'm in, let's go," Pierce replies.

* * *

Minnick spots Murphy at the surgical desk, "Dr Murphy," she says approaching her.

"Hey Dr Minnick, I caught a trauma and I'm just booking the OR for Robbins and Pierce," Murphy says excitedly.

"What's the case?" Minnick asks stepping in to look at the chart in Murphy's hands.

"Murphy, did you get it booked? Let's go," Robbins calls out to her.

"Dr Robbins," Minnick says as she turns around to face the blonde. "I just heard about your trauma, I'm going to pop into your OR."

"Um, Murphy go to pre-op and check on the patient, then get her into that OR STAT," Arizona says ignoring the brunette for the moment.

"Great, I've actually assisted on several c-sections and," Murphy replies excited to be heading into the OR with Robbins.

"I'll need you to cover my service, Pierce and I can handle this case," Arizona informs the resident.

"Actually, this sounds like a great case for her to learn..." Minnick interrupts.

"Murphy go," Arizona says sternly. "Dr Minnick, a word please."

"You are not welcome on my case," Arizona says as soon as Murphy is out of earshot.

"I'm not actually asking." Minnick replies. "It is my job to..."

"You are not entering my OR," Arizona replies interrupting her.

"Your patient is my student's classroom," Minnick points out.

"That is a very distasteful way of referring to a pregnant woman who has suffered a severe trauma and is about to give birth to her first child," Arizona harshly informs the brunette before walking away.

* * *

"You're letting the husband into the OR?" Maggie asks as she enters the scrub room.

"Yes, Mindy wants him there for the baby and I owe her that, since this is all my fault," Arizona exclaims as she scrubs for the surgery.

"How could this be your fault?" Maggie asks confused.

"I was on the phone with her before the accident. I told her to put her legs up and now everything is so much worse. The least that I can do is let her see her husband before the surgery," Arizona explains.

"No, this isn't your fault. You didn't cause that accident," Maggie points out.

"Maybe not, but I made it worse and this is all I can do now," Arizona says sadly.

"Saving the baby and making sure the mother lives is all we can do now, but Arizona this wasn't your fault," Maggie repeats.

* * *

Meredith is sitting outside yet another jail. She has called in every favor with everyone she can think of who could help her navigate this system and she still hasn't found Alex. Where the hell could he be, she wonders. Checking the clock on her phone, she realizes that she should head home, the kids are home from school and since she isn't working, she should let the nanny go and spend time with them. Sighing, she sets her phone down and puts the car in gear.

* * *

In the OR, the baby is delivered but she isn't breathing and the mother is bleeding out. Arizona hands the baby to Murphy and calls out instructions. She knows the resident can handle it, so she turns back to focus on the mother and help Pierce stop the bleeding.

The father, who is still in the OR begins freaking out when the baby doesn't cry and the monitors indicate his wife is in trouble. "Get him out of here," Arizona barks to one of the techs, who jumps in to grab the man by the arm and lead him out of the OR.

"Murphy, how's that baby?" Arizona asks.

"Not breathing," Murphy replies.

"Intubate her and get her up to the NICU now," Arizona instructs the resident, before returning her focus to the bleeder that she's trying to fix.

"I could have told you that was how this would play out," Pierce comments as she traces a bleeder and works to get it under control.

"Not now Pierce," Arizona warns the other surgeon.

"He shouldn't have been in here," Pierce adds.

"I was here. I know that. Can we just focus on the patient?" Arizona snaps.

* * *

At the house Meredith is helping Zola with her homework while Bailey plays with Ellis on the floor. Still worried about Alex, but resigned that there isn't anything more for her to do. She'll just need to wait for him or his lawyer to contact her and let her know what's happened. She checks her phone again, but still no word from Arizona or Maggie, which means they are still in surgery and/or they haven't heard anything either.

* * *

"Dr Robbins, chest x-rays show that the baby has diaphragmatic hernia," Murphy says re-entering the OR.

"Okay, let's get her on ECMO," Arizona says over her shoulder.

Murphy pauses, but the surgeon continues to operate. "You're not coming?" She asks finally.

"No, I'm busy saving the mother's life. Find a peds surgeon to help you, but you can do this Murphy, now go!" Arizona yells.

Stunned, Murphy backs out of the OR and rushes back to her patient.

* * *

Arizona lolls her head to stretch her neck muscles, it's been almost 48 hours now and all she wants is a shower at home and to sleep in her own bed tonight. She is heading out when she runs into Minnick again.

"Dr Robbins, do you have a moment?" Minnick asks catching her by the sleeve.

Looking down sharply at the hand on her jacket, Arizona frowns. "No, I don't. I've been up for 48 hours and I am going home. We can discuss whatever it is tomorrow," the blonde grumbles.

"I just wanted to say great job letting Murphy run with the baby," Minnick remarks with a smile. "That is exactly what I was talking about, thanks for being on board with my style of teaching."

Arizona rolls her eyes and walks away, not wanting to prolong the interaction by pointing out that is how she always teaches.

* * *

Meredith has put the kids to bed and is headed to her own room when she hears the front door open, she walks to the top of the stairs to see if it's Alex.

"Hey," Maggie says closing the door behind her. "Any word on Alex?" She asks.

"No, I just put the kids to bed and I'm going to lay down, I can't do this any more, I need a break," she exclaims tiredly.

"Okay, we'll talk tomorrow," Maggie replies, she's kind of glad that Meredith doesn't want to rehash the day, because she too just wants to let it go.

Meredith opens her bedroom door and crosses over to the bed to turn on the lamp. But just as she sits down, she jumps up. "Alex!" She exclaims as he sits up. "What are you doing?"

"Sleeping. I've been sleeping all day," he remarks.

"I've spent the day looking for you and you're here," she says annoyed and relieved.

"Yeah, it's over," he replies.

* * *

Arizona enters her house to find DeLuca sitting on the steps.

"Hey, what's going on?" She asks wondering if he's waiting for her.

"I heard your car outside," he says as she sits down beside him.

"The trial was postponed indefinitely," she states tiredly.

"I dropped the charges," DeLuca informs her.

"You did what now?" Arizona asks, because she is exhausted and can barely focus, but she could have sworn he said that he dropped the assault charges.

"I dropped the felony assault charges, there won't be a trial and Alex plead guilty to misdemeanor assault. It's over," Andrew explains.

"It's over," Arizona repeats and leans over to rest her head against the wall, relieved.

* * *

"Dr Grey," Andrew says when he opens the door to find her on the stoop the next morning.

"Arizona isn't answering her phone and I need to talk to her," Meredith states, waiting for admission.

"Uh, she's asleep and she's off today. I think you should just leave her a message," DeLuca suggests, not letting her inside.

"I've already left her messages, now move. I need to see her," Meredith says annoyed.

"No," DeLuca says standing his ground. "I don't think that you understand what she's been through the past two days, we talked last night and she really needs you to let her sleep," he adds firmly.

"Look, I appreciate what you did for Alex and what you are trying to do for Arizona, but I need to see her. Move." Meredith says again.

"One of the last things she said to me last night was that she wanted to be left alone today and not disturbed by anyone," he replies strongly.

"I assure you that she wasn't referring to me," Meredith retorts.

"Uh, actually, she asked me to tell you that she will talk to you tomorrow," he informs her.

"Well tomorrow is our date. You tell her if she doesn't talk to me today, then she shouldn't bother trying to talk to me tomorrow!" Meredith spits out before turning to storm off back to her SUV.


	10. Chapter 10

Arizona wakes up confused. Is it day or night, she can't tell with the curtains pulled and the room still dark as night. Sighing, she grabs her phone off the bedside table and looks at the time. 2:30 pm. She just slept fourteen hours. How is it possible that she wasn't paged during the past 14 hours, she wonders.

Sitting up in bed, she turns on the lamp and unlocks the phone to see what all she has missed. Twelve missed calls, 24 unread texts, how did she not hear these come through. Freaking out, she begins paging through the texts. She reads the one from Bailey informing her that she's been removed from the call list until tomorrow morning. Another from Pierce informs her that Mindy is doing better today and the baby is too. Checking her voicemails, she's happy when she hears Alex's voice telling her that he's been reinstated and back to work. At least now she feels better about being removed from the call list. Nothing from Meredith though is surprising. She must really be pissed. Arizona stares at the phone, debating whether to call her or wait until she is more awake. Deciding to wait, she leans over and picks up her crutches. Eating would be a good idea, the blonde doesn't even remember when or what she ate last.

* * *

Downstairs, Arizona is considering her food options when she spots a note from Andrew.

 _Hey, you should probably call Meredith. She came by this morning and was pissed when I wouldn't let her come in. She really wants to talk to you today. The leftover pad thai is all yours._

Arizona pulls out the leftovers and quickly pops them into the microwave, she'll eat this and then she'll call Meredith.

* * *

"How is your first day back?" Pierce asks Karev after they've checked the baby in the NICU.

"It's really great to be back," he admits with a smile.

"Have you talked to Arizona?" Maggie asks.

"Not yet, why?" Alex asks, brows furrowing in concern.

"Yesterday was really hard for her. She was up all night with that case at the prison hospital, then this case came in early yesterday morning. I don't know how she does it. I mean, I've done a 48 hour shift before, but she's dealing with babies and mothers, it's so intense and stressful," Maggie exclaims.

"Yeah, but it's what we do," Alex remarks proudly. "She'll be fine after she gets some sleep."

"It didn't help that someone told Meredith that they saw Arizona with Minnick at Joe's," Maggie adds.

"Wait, what? Why would Meredith care if Robbins is out with Minnick?" Alex asks confused.

"Oh God, you don't know? I-I just assumed, well you should talk to them about it or maybe now it doesn't matter," Maggie stammers nervously.

Before Alex can question her further, Murphy enters the NICU.

"Dr Karev, how is the Millen baby?" Murphy asks as she approaches them.

"She's doing good. Nice work Murphy," Karev remarks.

"Thanks," Murphy says surprised by the compliment. "Uh, where's Dr Robbins?"

"She's off today and I'm back. Why you need something?" Alex asks her.

"No, I just wanted to ask her about a few things from yesterday," Murphy replies. "I am thinking about applying for the Fetal Medicine Fellowship."

* * *

"Hi," Arizona says when Meredith answers the phone.

"I am between surgeries," Meredith replies curtly as she hands a chart back to a nurse and turns to walk away from the nurses' desk.

"Well, I think that we should talk later, can I come over?" Arizona asks.

"Do we have anything to talk about or should we just forget this whole thing?" Meredith questions as she ducks into a supply room for privacy.

"Meredith, seriously? Look if you're pushing me away because you're scared fine, I can understand that and we should talk about it. And if that's not it and there is something else going on here, we should talk about that too," Arizona says calmly.

The other woman sighs heavily and Arizona holds her breath waiting.

"I'll come by your place after work," Meredith says after pausing a moment.

"Okay," Arizona says exhaling in relief. "Come by whenever you're done," she adds.

* * *

"Thank you," Jo says softly as she enters his office.

"Don't thank me. Thank DeLuca, he dropped the charges," Alex remarks.

"Yeah, but you were going to take the plea and go to prison for me," Jo points out.

"No, I was going to go to prison for almost killing DeLuca," Alex counters.

"But still you were going to take the plea so I wouldn't have to testify," she reiterates with a small smile.

"I'm not a hero. Hell, I'll be on probation for a year. I have mandatory counseling and anger management classes to attend and that's just for the terms of my probation through the court. I am on probation here at the hospital and my medical license was almost suspended, Alex continues. "Look, don't make me out to be more than I am. I'm still the guy who beat someone up and almost killed him."

"Alex, you're a good guy. This doesn't define you," Jo protests.

"Jo," he says and then grimaces. "Or whoever you are, I need some space and time. I can't be around you right now," Alex admits.

She winces at the remark. "Come home tonight and I'll tell you everything," Jo promises.

"No, I'm staying at Mer's just until I can get my own place," he informs her.

* * *

"DeLuca," Meredith calls out to the intern across the cafeteria.

He turns around and points at himself questioning that she meant him, before walking over to where she is standing in line to pay.

"Yes, Dr Grey," he says cautiously.

"I want to apologize for this morning. And well for Alex and everything," Meredith says impatiently.

"Okay," he says turning to leave.

"DeLuca, wait. I have a whipple in OR 4 tomorrow morning. Meet me in my office in an hour and we can review the case," she offers.

"Y-you're offering me a surgery?" He questions.

"Look, it hasn't been that long ago that I was an intern here, I remember how hard it was to get into the OR," Meredith replies.

DeLuca looks down, unsure whether he should accept the offer.

"Will I get to cut?" He asks.

"God no, you're an intern!" Meredith exclaims.

The intern smiles at her response. "Just wanted to make sure," he replies.

"Make sure what? That I wasn't trying to bribe you?" She asks angrily.

"Something like that," he remarks. "But I'm going to pass on the whipple Dr Grey, thank you for offering."

"Dr Grey," the cashier says to get the surgeon's attention.

"Yes, okay," Meredith says handing over her card.

DeLuca takes advantage and slips away from her.

* * *

"Hey," Maggie says dodging the resident as he walks briskly out and into the hall.

"Oh Dr Pierce, sorry I just have to be somewhere," he says quickly, hoping she will buy it.

"Actually, I was looking for you. I have a transplant coming up and I asked Riggs if you could be on it, but he suggested that I ask you first," Maggie replies.

"Oh, well I'd prefer to just stay on Dr Riggs service right now, no offense," DeLuca answers.

"You're going to pass up the opportunity to be on a heart transplant team as an intern?" Maggie questions.

"I don't know what is going on, but I don't want special treatment for dropping the charges against Karev. I just want it all to go away. So if that's the only reason you're offering me this, then I don't want it," DeLuca explains, his voice raising a little in irritation.

* * *

"Dr Wilson," Chief Bailey barks interrupting the two residents standing around the nurses' station.

"Chief Bailey," Wilson says coming to attention and slipping her phone into her pocket.

"I have something that I need you to do for me," Bailey replies. "My office in ten minutes," she adds over her shoulder.

* * *

"Hey sweet girl! How was school today?" Arizona asks her daughter. She texted Callie to see if they could Skype and for a change, Callie called her right back.

"Momma, I made a new friend today," Sofia squeals happily and then precedes to describe the girl and everything that they did at school today with Arizona asking questions here and there, until the girl is talked out.

"She sounds great," Arizona remarks when Callie's face appears on the screen.

"The week didn't start that great," Callie admits, "she had a meltdown the other day because two girls at school were mean to her. I was in surgery and she wouldn't tell Penny why she was upset, then your Mom just happened to call the house when they got home and she talked her through it," she explains.

"Oh well I hope Penny knows that there are times when she won't talk to us either," Arizona offers gently.

"Yeah, I reminded her of that, but she took it personally," Callie replies with a sigh.

"How are you?" Arizona asks changing the subject.

"I'm fine. It's just been a long week," Calle exclaims. "How about you? Anything new going on in Seattle?"

"Wow, so much has happened this week," Arizona answers with a sigh. "Karev decided to accept the plea bargain, but then DeLuca decided to drop the charges. I had a case take me to Tri-County Medical." The blonde shudders again at the memory.

"A pregnant prisoner needed a fetal surgeon?" Callie questions.

"Yeah, it was a TRAP case and they wouldn't bring her to us," Arizona explains. "Remind me never to do anything that could put me in prison."

The two mothers continue to talk for a while catching up on each other's lives, until Arizona's front door rings.

"Oh hey, that's the door, I should go," Arizona says looking over towards the door, but all she can see through the side light is the sleeve of a jacket.

They both say their goodbyes and the blonde firmly closes the laptop, the last thing she needs is for Callie to overhear this conversation she thinks as she makes her way to answer the door.

"What are you doing here?" Arizona questions more loudly than she intended, but then she definitely did not expect to have Leah Murphy standing at her front door.

"Uh, apparently you didn't answer when Chief Bailey called, so she sent me over with this," Leah says holding up a file.

"And she sent you?" Arizona blurts out, because she is surprised that Bailey would send Leah Murphy to her house without calling first.

"No, she gave this to Wilson, but Wilson didn't drive today, so I offered to bring it over to you because I wanted to talk to you," Murphy explains with just a twinge of nervousness.

"Fine," Arizona says walking away and leaving the door open for the resident to enter.

Leah enters and closes the door behind her. "Your home is nice, comfortable. I like the colors," she rambles as she looks around.

"Thank you," Arizona says but holds out her hand for the file.

The resident looks at her blankly for a moment, before remembering and handing it over.

The blonde opens it and scans it quickly before turning to sit down on her couch.

Murphy takes that as an invitation to sit down beside her. Arizona glances at her and the resident scoots back a bit.

After a few minutes, Arizona closes the file and sets it down on the coffee table and turns to look at the blonde expectantly.

Leah licks her lips nervously before stammering, "I-I'm interested in the Fetal Medicine Fellowship."

"No, you're not," Arizona replies quickly.

"I-I really am and it has nothing to do with you. It's something that I've been interested in for a while now," she adds.

"Leah, it is not a good idea for you to take on this type of program with someone that you have a history with," Arizona begins carefully. "Especially the history that we have together, pick something else or apply for the program at Hopkins," she adds to soften the blow.

"You won't even let me apply?" Leah questions, hurt and confusion showing all over her face.

"Have you discussed this with Chief Bailey or Dr Webber?" Arizona asks, because she is certain that neither of them would allow Murphy to apply for the fellowship either.

"No, not yet. I thought that I should talk to you first," Leah explains.

"I'm not saying you can't apply, but I am saying that you need to discuss this your residency supervisor. The Fetal Medicine Fellowship is one of the toughest programs that I've ever done and it's not for everyone. I wasn't sure that I could do it," Arizona admits. "I think that you need to really evaluate this and think about why you're doing it."

"You think that I'm doing this just to try to get back together with you?" Leah replies loudly as she rises to her feet.

"I didn't say that," Arizona argues, standing up too.

"No, but you're thinking it," Leah points out.

"It crossed my mind, yes," Arizona admits.

At this admission, Leah stands up and begins walking to the door.

"Leah," the blonde calls out after her.

Leah stops, her hand on the doorknob, "Not everything I do is about you Arizona," she snaps angrily before flinging the door open.

"Hello Dr Grey," she says quickly, before stepping around her to leave.

"Murphy," Meredith mumbles watching the resident leave.

"Meredith, perfect timing," Arizona says sarcastically from just inside the doorway before walking away and leaving the door open.

"Why the hell is Leah Murphy here, at your house?" Meredith question as she steps inside the house.

"She dropped off something for Bailey," Arizona replies, wondering how much harder this could possibly get.

"Why would Bailey send her?" Meredith asks next.

"Meredith, it doesn't matter. Look she's gone, can we please just talk about the other night?" Arizona asks.

"I overreacted. And I can't say that it won't happen again, because it probably will," Meredith confesses nervously.

The blonde smiles slightly accepting her confession before offering her own.

"So Minnick flirts with me," Arizona remarks. "And before I realized who she was and why she was here, I flirted back."

"So you were interested in her, but now you're not because she's here to take Richard Webber's job?" Meredith asks.

"I flirted with her. I was never interested in her because I am interested in you. But until last week, I didn't realize that you were an option," Arizona informs her, smiling brightly.

Meredith sighs, between the dazzling smile and Arizona's twinkly blue eyes, she feels even worse about everything. "Arizona. I'm a mess. You know me, I am insecure and I have abandonment issues," she admits.

"Meredith," Arizona says softly walking up to her and slipping her arms around her waist. "Do you realize that we're not even dating yet and this our second fight?"

"Third actually, maybe fourth," Meredith replies relaxing into the embrace.

"Maybe we should reconsider this relationship," Arizona teases her.

"Or we could start taking advantage and make up properly," Meredith teases, leaning in to kiss her lips.

"That might encourage you to pick more fights," Arizona replies before kissing her harder.

"Hmm," Meredith murmurs opening her mouth to deepen the kiss. "Kissing is better than fighting," she adds thickly.


	11. Chapter 11

"Hey where have you been?" Alex asks when Meredith enters the house.

"Sorry, I stopped over to see Arizona and it took longer than I thought," Meredith replies before plopping down on the couch beside him and grabbing his beer.

"That's the last one," Alex grumbles before grabbing it back from her. "And what is going on with you and Robbins?"

"What do you think is going on?" Meredith questions back challenging him to ask again.

"Well, Maggie said something today that got me thinking that you might like Robbins as more than a friend," Alex states before taking a long sip of the beer.

"We're going out tomorrow night, on a date," Meredith informs him.

"You're going out with Robbins on a date," Alex says almost spitting the beer out of his mouth.

"Yep," she replies laughing at him.

"But you're not... wait are you?" Alex blurts out.

"Alex, you don't know everything about me," she challenges.

"Yeah, but that's something that I thought I knew. I mean you and Yang were close and in the beginning we all wondered about you two, but then..."

"But then we were screwing boys like whores on tequila," Meredith finishes for him.

"Your words, I didn't say that," he points out. "Well, I just hope that you guys know what you're doing because I don't want to end up having to pick sides when you two break up," Alex grumbles.

"We're taking it slow, don't worry about it," Meredith retorts before standing up and stretching.

"I'm going up to bed. You can take Amelia's room, now that she is married to Owen, I don't think that she will mind," Meredith points out.

"Okay, but I am going to look for a place of my own this week," he counters.

* * *

"Good morning Dr Grey," Arizona says brightly approaching Meredith at the coffee cart.

Meredith rolls her eyes and hands the blonde a cup of coffee. "Light and much too sweet to still be coffee," she quips.

"Oh thank you, Dr Grey," the blonde replies, her blue eyes twinkling happily as she takes a sip.

"Why do you insist on pretending that we are accidentally running into each other?" Meredith asks as they head over to sit on a bench.

"I'm not sure, because you are terrible at this," Arizona retorts holding up the cup of coffee as evidence.

"I told you that I am not going to hide this. Would you please just relax?" Meredith begs playfully.

"I'm trying, but I'm still kind of worried about everything," the blonde admits.

"I can appreciate that. But you are just as big a deal as I am around here," Meredith reminds her.

"Well that is true," Arizona replies feigning smugness, which earns her another eyeroll from the other surgeon.

They sit and drink their coffee a moment, before Meredith leans into her and whispers, "You do know that the residents think that we are immortal, don't you?"

"Well, I don't know about you, but I am actually immortal. I am a vampire surgeon," Arizona whispers back to her.

"I think I saw that movie," Meredith quips.

"Well, this is an interesting sight," Amelia remarks as she nudges Meredith to make room for her on the bench. "When did the two of you get so chummy?" She asks.

"Amelia, don't you have surgery this morning?" Meredith retorts, annoyed by the intrusion.

"It was postponed, secondary infection," she remarks before leaning over her sister-in-law to speak directly to Arizona. "How are you? Everytime I try to find you, you are in the OR or the pit."

"Yeah, well now that they have reinstated Alex my schedule should get back to normal," Arizona remarks.

"What are we going to do about this situation with Webber?" Amelia asks.

"There's nothing wrong with how we were trained. I was trained here and look how I turned out?" Meredith points out.

"Well, you have to admit that not all of our attendings are great teachers," Arizona counters.

"But that doesn't mean the whole system needs to be changed and Richard is a great teacher," Meredith argues. "It was really crappy of Bailey to hire Minnick and force all of us to change."

"Can't we fire her or cancel her contract? We are all on the Board and we have four votes between us, counting Callie. We could hold a quorum and decide right now," Amelia suggests seriously.

"Ever since she took Derek's seat on the board, Amelia is all about holding a quorum," Meredith says turning to the blonde beside her.

"I've noticed," Arizona retorts standing up to leave. "But I don't think a quorum is appropriate. I wouldn't feel comfortable doing this without the full board voting."

"I'll talk to Richard and see if he wants us to call an emergency board meeting to discuss this," Meredith says standing up alongside the blonde.

Arizona realizes that Meredith is about to kiss her goodbye, she panics and stammers, "Uh thanks for the coffee, Meredith... I-I should get going," before rushing off.

Amelia stands up and steps in front of Meredith. "What's going on with you and Robbins," Amelia asks crossing her arms.

"I don't know what you're talking about... wait, have you talked to Maggie?" Meredith asks accusingly.

"No, but if you don't tell me what is going on with you and Robbins, I will," Amelia threatens her playfully.

Inwardly groaning, because although she doesn't want to hide it, she does respect that Arizona isn't ready to have people know. Instead of replying, Meredith rolls her eyes and walks away.

* * *

"What do we have?" April asks as the EMT's pull the gurney out of the ambulance.

"24 year old white female, drug overdose," the first one says holding up a bag with a needle in it.

"Do we know what it is?" April asks as she moves in to examine the girl.

"Probably heroin, we've picked up a few others from this same area," the second EMT replies.

"Let's get this to the lab for testing," April says nodding for DeLuca to take it. "Her breathing is really shallow. Take her to trauma room one, I'm going to grab some naloxone," she adds directing them.

"What about the baby?" The first EMT asks.

"What baby?" April asks following them into the trauma room.

"She's pregnant," the second EMT replies pulling aside the blanket so the doctor can see for herself.

"Page Robbins STAT!" April calls out. "I need a portable ultrasound in here!"

Edwards and Wilson roll into the trauma room with the portable ultrasound.

"Wilson, this woman OD'd and she's pregnant, set that up and see if we can save this baby. Edwards, go find Robbins," the trauma surgeon barks.

"I'm here," Arizona says entering the room.

"Twenty-four year old, drug overdose, possibly heroin," April calls out.

"She is really underweight," Arizona remarks as she stands behind Wilson as she begins to run the wand over the woman's abdomen. "Edwards get us an OR, we need to do a c-section now!"

"Are you sure that she's far enough along?" April questions as she comes around to look at the ultrasound screen.

"She's almost full term," Arizona replies. "If we don't get the baby out now, the drugs in her system are going to kill it."

* * *

"Edwards, where have you been?" Meredith asks glancing up at the resident.

"I got pulled into a trauma for a minute," the resident explains.

"We need to get this guy into pre-op, he needs a bowel resection yesterday," Meredith says pointing at the screen in front of her. "Call scheduling and book us an OR."

Edwards grabs the phone off the wall and dials the extension. "Dr Grey needs to schedule a bowel resection immediately," she says into the receiver. "Dr Grey, all the ORs are booked. She says that she can get one at 2 pm."

"Give me that phone," Meredith snaps grabbing it from her. "This is Dr Grey, Chief of General Surgery and I have an emergent case that requires surgery now."

"Dr Grey, I understand that, but we already had a full board, and now two traumas just came in and pushed everything around," the scheduler explains.

"I get that you're having trouble prioritizing the board, but I need an OR in the next hour or this patient could die from a perforated bowel," Meredith informs her.

"I'll see what I can do," the woman says sighing heavily.

Meredith hands the phone back to Edwards. "Go ahead and prep him. I'm going to run up there and see just how bad the schedule is."

* * *

Eliza Minnick is standing in front of the surgical board trying to sort it out.

"I need that OR," Meredith says pointing to the board.

"Great, which resident will be leading surgeon on the case?" Minnick asks.

"I'm lead surgeon, Edwards is assisting," Meredith replies.

"You're missing the point Dr Grey. If you want to use that OR, then Edwards has to be the lead," Minnick reiterates.

"My patient is going to die of a perforated bowel, is that what you want her to learn?" Meredith retorts angrily.

"Edwards is more than capable of handling a perforated bowel, she'll be lead, you'll assist," Minnick says as she writes it on the board.

"This is ridiculous," Meredith complains.

"Is there a problem?" Bailey asks approaching the heated conversation.

"Yes," Meredith answers.

"No," Minnick answers.

"Which is it, yes or no?" Bailey inquires.

"I was just explaining to Dr Grey that if she wants to book OR 4, which is now the teaching OR, then Edwards will need to be the lead surgeon," Minnick explains.

"My patient needs an emergency bowel resection, this isn't a case for a resident. Anything could happen in there," Meredith points out.

"Exactly why the resident needs to be lead. Surgery doesn't always go as planned, Edwards has great instincts, she can handle this," Minnick counters.

Meredith ignores her and pulls her phone out. "Edwards, OR 4 is ready for us. Meet you there." Ending the call, Meredith shoots them both a glare before rushing off to scrub in.

Minnick smiles smugly. "I knew that this would work," she remarks.

Bailey shakes her head. She knows Meredith Grey better.

"I hope that you're planning to scrub in," Bailey grumbles.

"Why would I need to do that?" Minnick asks.

"Because Dr Grey isn't going to let Edwards lead on this case," Bailey informs her.

"But she just agreed to," Minnick retorts.

"No, she didn't. She just wanted the OR," Bailey snaps before walking away.


	12. Chapter 12

They can't save the mother, all they can do is try to get the baby out before the drugs get into it's system and even then, there's a chance that it won't survive. The mother is seriously underweight for being 34 weeks pregnant which means the baby is severely undernourished and underdeveloped.

Arizona scrubs quickly, all the while going over the procedure in her head. There was no time to run the usual tests, so she's going in blind. She glances over at Murphy, who is scrubbing beside her.

"When we get in there, I need you to follow my instructions to the letter. I know that you will have questions, but I may not be able to answer them. We're going in blind and I've got a baby to save. You're going to make the first cut and open her up, so that I can remove the baby as quickly as possible. The mother isn't going to survive this overdose, but hopefully the baby will," Arizona explains.

The resident nods, but remains silent. She knows that Arizona is laser focused and she doesn't want to distract her.

"Oh and Murphy, the surgery will be recorded, so that we can review it together, then you ask questions," Arizona adds.

"Thank you Dr Robbins," Murphy replies.

"Okay, well let's go save this baby," Robbins says heading into the OR.

* * *

"Because of the location of the obstruction, we can't resect it laparoscopically," Meredith explains to Edwards as they scrub into the surgery. "I know that Minnick expects you to be lead surgeon on this case, but this isn't a typical resection. The margins are tight and it's possible that we'll need to perform an ileostomy, which I will let you perform. Understood?" Meredith asks her.

"Yes Dr Grey," Edwards replies keeping her voice steady to hide her excitement.

"Let's review the ileostomy procedure, step-by-step," Meredith prompts the resident.

"The first step will be to bring the ileum through the intestinal wall," Edwards begins but is interrupted by Minnick entering the scrub room.

"What are you doing here?" Meredith asks brusquely.

"Why is she outlining an ileostomy? She's going to perform a bowel resection," Minnick questions.

"No, she isn't. This is an open procedure due to the location of the obstruction, I am going to do the resection and then if needed, Edwards will do the ileostomy," Meredith explains.

"That's not acceptable, this is a teaching hospital Dr Grey," Minnick reminds her.

"I know and I prefer to teach my students how not to kill patients, so she will observe the open procedure," Meredith says firmly.

"Dr Minnick, I-I'm fine with this," Edwards adds. Hoping that Minnick will back down and not piss off Dr Grey.

The door opens again and Dr Bailey enters tying on a mask.

"Not you too?" Meredith groans. "Out both of you," she shouts.

"Excuse me Dr Grey, are you telling me that I can not observe a procedure in my hospital?" Bailey challenges.

"I am saying that neither of you are going into that OR, you both can observe from the gallery," Meredith snaps. Then as she moves past the resident, she adds, "Edwards, let's go."

* * *

Minnick and Bailey glance at each other as they walk out of the scrub room. Standing in front of the OR schedule, they each survey the board. Bailey quickly notices that there has been a change. She notes that Robbins and Murphy have taken over OR 4 for an emergency c-section, which is odd because Robbins made it clear that she wasn't going to work with Murphy after everything that happened between them. Deciding to investigate on her own without alerting Minnick, she mumbles that she needs to go, leaving Minnick to stare at the board on her own.

* * *

Bailey enters the viewing gallery and silently observes the procedure taking place below. Robbins instructs Murphy to begin the c-section, then she steps in quickly to remove the baby. Verbally outlining each step of the procedure while Murphy follows along closely. As Robbins steps away with the tiny baby, the mother goes into distress.

Murphy calls out what is happening and Robbins lets her talk herself through it, offering guidance when needed, but otherwise focused on the other patient.

"She's in cardiac arrest," Murphy calls out, but she knows exactly what to do and she instructs the surgical team confidently.

Bailey watches. Robbins is focused on intubating the baby. Murphy is focused on doing what she can for the mother. The Chief leaves the OR gallery satisfied that bringing Murphy back into the program was the right thing do.

Next Bailey heads into the gallery over Dr Grey's procedure, she isn't surprised to find Minnick observing the procedure.

"How is it going?" She asks the other surgeon.

"The superior mesenteric artery is compressing the area that needs to be resected," Minnick replies.

"Hmm," Bailey murmurs as she watches Meredith carefully work to excise around the artery.

Meredith glances up at the gallery and notices Bailey has joined Minnick.

"Dr Edwards, would you explain to the observers what I am doing now?" She prompts the resident.

"Yes, you are excising the damaged section of the small intestine, which is complicated due to the SMA encroaching on the area," Edwards replies. "Your approach is unusually conservative to ensure that you do not nick the artery."

Meredith glances up and Bailey nods. The Chief knows exactly what Meredith is doing. It was just a few years ago that Bailey was the attending and Meredith was the resident. They performed a similar procedure and Meredith is teaching Edwards the exact way that Bailey taught her.

"I think I've seen all that I need to see," Bailey announces and turns to leave.

Minnick follows her out of the gallery and into the hall. "The resident should be cutting, she's not learning," Minnick argues.

"I disagree," Bailey replies turning to face the other surgeon. "I taught Dr Grey how to perform this surgery and it is not lost on me, that she is teaching this resident exactly how I taught her."

"But surgical residents need to do more than just stand around observing," Minnick insists.

"Edwards is a good resident," Bailey retorts. "A good resident doesn't simply watch. No, a good resident observes every step of the procedure and imagines herself making the cuts. When Grey asked her to tell us what was going on, she knew exactly what was going on. She didn't hesitate or need a minute to figure it out. She knew because in her head, she was performing the surgery," Bailey points out.

* * *

Up in the NICU, Arizona is still working to stabilize the small infant.

"That was amazing," Murphy exclaims as she steps up beside the blonde surgeon. "How is he doing?"

"He has trace amounts of heroin in his system so the next 24 hours are critical," Arizona answers. "We'll need to monitor him closely."

"Dr Robbins, I want to stay on this case. Can I monitor him tonight?" Murphy asks.

"No, I'm taking the overnight. You should go home," the blonde replies.

Murphy begins to protest, "But Dr Robbins..."

Arizona puts a hand on the resident's shoulder. "Murphy, go home and get some sleep because I need you to monitor him tomorrow and if he makes it, you'll stay and take the overnight."

"Really?" Murphy blurts out surprised. "Dr Robbins, thank you. Thank you."

From the doorway of the NICU, Minnick watches the exchange.

"How did it go with Robbins?" She asks following Murphy out into the hall.

"It was awesome. She is awesome and I'm kind of feeling awesome," Murphy exclaims.

"Did you cut or observe?" Minnick asks.

"I cut. The mother was my patient, I opened and closed the c-section," Murphy replies before going on to explain everything that happened in the OR after Robbins left with the infant.

"She left you in the OR with a patient on the table?" Minnick questions.

"Before she left the patient coded and died," Murphy explains. "Now excuse me, Dr Robbins has sent me home for the day."

"Wait, she sent you home for the day? Why aren't you in there monitoring the baby?" Minnick asks.

"The baby has trace levels of heroin in his system. Dr Robbins is monitoring him tonight and tomorrow, he will be my case. Excuse me now Dr Minnick, I need to go," Murphy says excitedly.

* * *

Minnick enters the doctor's lounge and plops down on the sofa. Frustrated that nothing has worked out today, she swings around to lay down and closes her eyes for a moment, she needs to think this through before she makes another move.

"I called it," the woman says entering the lounge with another doctor.

"Just because she let her back on her service, doesn't mean that they are back together," the other doctor points out.

"Of course they're together. First Robbins bans her from her service, then Murphy finagles her way on to her service anyway and now they've had two cases together. Double or nothing Murphy applies for the Fellowship next," the first doctor counters.

"You're so off base. Robbins is just a good person, she recognizes that Murphy is a decent resident and she's just trying to do the right thing and train her," the second doctor replies.

The two women go to sit down at the table to eat their food, when they suddenly realize that they're not alone in the lounge.

"Uh, sorry we didn't see you there," the second doctor says when Eliza sits up.

"Were you talking about Dr Robbins and Leah Murphy?" Minnick asks.

Busted the two doctors look at each other and then back to Minnick.

"Uh," the first woman says nervously.

"Please forget what she said," the second one replies. "Dr Robbins has been completely professional in regards to Murphy coming back."

"But they dated previously?" Minnnick asks. "I'm just asking because I'm the resident supervisor and I wasn't aware of this history between them."

"Oh, but it's ancient history. Murphy moved on and has a girlfriend now," the second one points out.

Minnick stands up and looks at them both. "Thank you," she says before leaving the lounge.

* * *

"May I have a word with you Dr Grey," Chief Bailey asks stepping into Meredith's office.

"Look, I know what you're going to say, but in my defense..." Meredith begins.

"I know what you're doing. I even know why you're doing it," Bailey admits before sitting down in the chair beside the desk. "Meredith, the truth is if I was you, I would probably do exactly what you're doing." She adds.

Meredith stares at her a moment, considering how to respond.

"Miranda, you trained me to be a surgeon. And you trained me to teach surgeons. I am head of General Surgery because you know that I am capable of doing both of those things well," Meredith reminds her.

"I know. But we can be better," Bailey says defensively.

"If you were concerned about the program, you should have come to me and Richard to talk about it before hiring some consultant behind our backs," Meredith retorts angrily.

"Yes, I know, which is why I'm calling a meeting of department heads later this week. I want all of you to work together with Minnick to improve our resident training program. Minnick will still be monitoring it, but she won't be in charge of it," Bailey replies. "Can I expect your cooperation?" She asks.

"Have you told her about this yet? Because I can't see her going along with this," Meredith challenges.

"She will go along with it or she'll break her contract," Bailey answers.

* * *

"You lied to me," Eliza Minnick announces accusingly from the office doorway.

Arizona spins around to face her. "Excuse me?" she spits out.

"You led me to believe that you had met someone, as in a new relationship. But that's not it. You're involved with an ex, who also happens to be a resident," Minnick replies stepping into the office and closing the door behind her.

"Wow, that is beyond offensive. Not to mention that this accusation has no merit," Arizona retorts crossing her arms defensively.

"Are you denying that you have a history with Leah Murphy?" Minnick asks.

"Wait, you think that I am currently involved with Murphy? Her girlfriend was just here last week, what kind of person do you think I am?" Arizona says angrily. "And before you answer that let me just remind you," she says rising to her feet. "Not only am I head of my department, I am also on the Board of this hospital and I am a partial owner of this hospital."

"Are you threatening me Dr Robbins?" Minnick asks.

"No, if I were threatening you, I would mention that it would take me less than 30 minutes to call a quorum together and void your contract," Arizona points out. "Now get the hell out of my office."


	13. Chapter 13

"Hey, I was thinking that we need to reschedule our date, how about dinner tonight?" Meredith asks entering Arizona's office and sitting down beside her desk.

Arizona smiles tiredly at her. "Raincheck? I can't leave the hospital tonight, I'm monitoring a drug-addicted newborn," the blonde replies.

"I heard about that case. Okay, raincheck on the date. But we're still having dinner together, I'll just get take out from the Thai place down the street for us," Meredith says firmly.

"Are you sure that you want to do that?" The blonde asks worriedly. "It seems like we always end up eating here in my office," Arizona reminds her.

"I don't mind, besides at least your people leave you the hell alone. It's way better than eating in my office," Meredith admits. "So yes on dinner?" She asks.

"Yes and thank you," Arizona says leaning over to place a light kiss on her cheek.

Meredith turns her head so that the kiss lands on her lips. "You're welcome," she mumbles, before lightly biting the blonde's lower lip and darting her tongue out playfully.

"Mmm," Arizona murmurs, about to deepen the kiss when there's a knock at her door.

The two surgeons pull away from each other and look up to see Alex. He enters once they've both seen him.

"Hey," he says entering and shutting the door behind him. "Anyone could have seen you guys," Alex cautions them.

"We don't care if anyone sees us," Meredith answers for them, but when she looks over at Arizona, she isn't so sure. "Arizona, I thought that we agreed about this?"

"We did. Meredith there's something that I need to tell you, Minnick was in here earlier and she accused me of being involved with Murphy," Arizona admits.

"Why, because you worked with her on this new case? That's crazy," Meredith points out.

"It's not just that, she also found out that Murphy and I had a past relationship," Arizona counters.

"So people are gossiping about you and Murphy again," Meredith says sighing. "Well won't they be surprised when they find out that it's me and not her!" The dark blonde exclaims with a laugh.

"Arizona, that's what I wanted to talk with you about. Transfer the baby to me, I can take over the case and work with Murphy," Alex suggests.

"Better hope Minnick doesn't find out that you slept with her too," Meredith teases him.

Arizona smiles tightly but doesn't comment. Alex laughs with Meredith, but keeps watching the blonde.

"Hey, so what did you say to Minnick earlier? I heard you raise your voice and then a minute later I saw her bolt out of your office about to cry," Alex decides to ask.

"You made her cry?" Meredith blurts out.

"I doubt that she cried over anything that I said. But she burst in here and accused me of sleeping with an intern based on overhearing gossip in the lounge. I got mad and I expressed it," Arizona replies carefully.

"Sounds like you both kicked her the ass today then," Alex remarks with a smirk.

"What is he talking about?" Arizona asks Meredith.

"Minnick reserved an OR today, her plan was that it would only be used if the resident was the primary. I had an emergent case and she wouldn't give me the OR unless I agreed to let Edwards lead. So I agreed, but then didn't let Edwards do it, because the blockage was too close to the SMA. When Bailey and Minnick came in to observe and found me cutting, I subtly reminded Bailey that she taught me this procedure and that I was teaching Edwards the same way that I learned it." Meredith explains.

"Oh, that must be why Bailey came into my OR today," Arizona comments.

"I heard that you let Murphy do the c-section," Alex adds. "Why didn't you page me?"

"There was no time, the patient was an OD and we had to get that baby out quickly. Murphy said that she had done one before, so I let her do this one," Arizona points out. "But apparently that made people think that we were back together." The blonde adds with chagrin.

* * *

Bailey is leaving for the night when she turns to see Eliza Minnick coming down the hall.

"Dr Minnick, I was hoping to discuss modifying your resident training program for Grey-Sloan," Bailey begins.

"Dr Bailey," Minnick says heavily. She isn't in the right mood for this conversation. "Perhaps we could discuss this in the morning. I've had a really challenging day."

"I know that you did, which is why I think that we need to combine our training methods," Bailey explains. "Dr Webber has trained a lot of surgeons, myself included. But he needs to update his methods. And your methods, don't quite fit into our program, so let's work out a compromise between them," she proposes.

Eliza Minnick closes her eyes and tries to count to ten before responding, but fails. "Look, I have a signed contract that allows me to implement my program. I am not going to change it just because it's unpopular. People resist change for a reason, it's hard. But they will just have to embrace it and deal with it. I'm not compromising and I don't have to."

Bailey is speechless a moment as she considers Minnick's position.

"Sounds like you have a problem with change, Dr Minnick," Bailey quips before turning to leave. "Let's talk again in the morning, first thing." She adds over her shoulder.

* * *

How is he doing?" Meredith asks when Arizona returns to the office.

"He's stable again," Arizona answers. "You don't have to stay, you should go home."

"Actually, I just Facetimed with the kids and put them to bed. I was planning to stay awhile longer," Meredith says playfully wiggling her eyebrows.

"My whole staff knows that you're in here," Arizona nods towards the door.

"I could leave and sneak back in. Oh give me the key to your suite and I'll come in that door from the side hallway," Meredith jokes, walking over to her.

"I thought that you didn't care if people talked about us?" Arizona quips with a laugh.

"I don't care, but I understand that you're not as comfortable with your staff knowing that you have an overnight guest," Meredith responds reaching out to grab the blonde's lab coat and pull her closer.

"An overnight guest? Meredith, we still haven't gone on a date yet?" Arizona teases, letting herself be pulled in close.

"I bought you dinner tonight, aren't you going to thank me?" Meredith taunts lightly.

"Come in here and I'll show you how much I appreciated dinner," Arizona says nodding towards her ensuite door.

Meredith links their hands and leads them into the other room.

* * *

"Minnick is MIA," Maggie whispers to Amelia as they head into the conference room.

"I heard that the Chief sent her packing," Amelia replies as the two surgeons navigate the swelling crowd of attendings.

"That didn't happen," April injects from behind them.

"Oh, then what did happen?" Amelia asks brightly turning to the other surgeon.

"I don't know officially, but I'm sure that the Chief will explain it. " April returns softly.

"Unofficially then, why are we here?" Maggie whispers back to the redhead.

"I can't say," April admits sheepishly before making her way over to Jackson.

Maggie and Amelia watch her leave as they wait in line for coffee.

Across the room, Meredith and Arizona enter the meeting room. Unconsciously, Meredith places her hand on Arizona's lower back as they navigate the room full of doctors.

"I knew it!" Amelia exclaims excitedly.

"Knew what?" Maggie asks.

"Knew that was happening," Amelia replies smugly nodding towards the two blondes heading towards them.

"Be cool," Maggie whispers quickly to the brunette.

"Ha!" Amelia scoffs in amusement as they both step up to fix their coffee.

"Where's Bailey?" Meredith asks her sisters.

"We don't know," Amelia replies.

"We heard that they met early this morning, but no one has seen either of them since then," Maggie interjects.

Arizona looks down nervously as she considers her conversation with Minnick the previous night. What are the chances that Eliza would repeat the unfounded rumors to the Chief, or worse tell her that she was threatened by a Board member.

A few minutes later, Bailey enters the room with Richard Webber trailing behind her. The waiting surgeons all turn towards the two and the room gets quieter.

"Thank you all for rearranging your schedules for this meeting. Sorry that we're not starting on time, but I will explain everything," Bailey begins.

"Richard Webber has been reinstated as Resident Supervisor and he is working out a few updates to our resident training program. There will be changes, significant changes," she adds glaring at them all sharply. "And I expect full compliance from each and everyone of you."

"Did you fire Minnick?" A voice calls out.

"Personnel matters are private and not discussed outside of the parties involved," Bailey replies curtly.

"What are the changes?" Another surgeon asks.

"I am still working them out, but I am planning a staged rollout of them beginning next week," Webber answers.

* * *

"Well that was unexpected," Maggie says as she follows Meredith and Arizona out of the conference room.

The two blondes turn around and it's obvious that they were not surprised by the announcement.

"Wait, neither of you look surprised," she points out.

"We were surprised," Meredith replies quickly speaking for both of them, earning her a shoulder nudge from Arizona.

"I wasn't surprised, I sort of got into it with Minnick last night," Arizona admits to Maggie.

"Really?" Maggie asks, hoping for more details.

"I got into it with Minnick yesterday too," Meredith adds.

"Interesting, so was there a meeting? Did the Board fire her?" Maggie questions. "Oh, is that why you stayed here last night?" She adds turning to face her sister.

"Uh, Minnick is not the reason that I stayed here last night," Meredith replies carefully, trying not to look at Arizona.

"Hey, so there's a rumor going around that you threatened to fire Minnick," Amelia says to Arizona as she approaches the threesome.

"I did not threaten her," Arizona asserts. "She accused me of being involved with a resident and she had no proof."

Maggie looks shocked at this announcement. "Which resident?" She asks.

"It doesn't matter, because I'm not involved with a resident," Arizona replies, looking over at Meredith.

"Dr Grey, may I speak with you a moment?" Webber asks as he approaches the group.

Meredith nods and then reaches over to squeeze Arizona's hand. "I'll come find you later," she says before moving away from the group and following Webber down the hall.

Amelia and Maggie exchange smiles.

"You and Meredith are a thing," Amelia blurts out.

"Amelia, shut up," Maggie interjects, placing a hand on the small brunette's arm, before turning to the blonde. "We know that it's none of our business, but it's good to see Mer happy again," she adds with a wink.

* * *

"Your sisters know," Arizona says entering Meredith's office later that morning.

"Know what?" Meredith asks still reviewing lab reports.

The blonde shuts the door behind her. Then moves to lean on the edge of the desk, immediately this gets the other surgeon's attention and she looks up from the file.

"About us," Arizona replies with a smile.

Meredith rolls her chair over so that she is front of the blonde, then she stands up trapping her against the desk.

"Us," Meredith says leaning in to kiss her. "There's an us," she repeats happily.

Smiling into the kiss, Arizona places her hands onto either side of the other woman's face, before pulling her in to deepen the kiss.

A moment later Meredith pulls back. "Whoa," she says playfully.

"My surgery this afternoon has been postponed," Arizona informs her.

"Mmm," Meredith murmurs before pulling the other woman back to her for another kiss.

"I was thinking that since I am done early, I could cook dinner for you," the blonde adds a moment later ending the kiss.

"I thought that we were going out," Meredith replies, reaching out to smooth out the collar of Arizona's lab coat.

"We could go out, but staying in sounds better to me," Arizona replies biting her lip nervously.

"I don't care if we go out or stay in, I just want to see you tonight," Meredith says agreeably.

* * *

 _ **A/N: just a short note to say thank you all for reading this one. Sorry that it took me so long to post. I feel like I need to end this because I don't have much time to write at the moment and I hate not updating a story regularly. XOXO**_


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